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A 



CONSTITUTIONAL MANUAL 



FOR THE 




IN WHICH IS BXAMINKD THE QUESTION OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN CONNEXION WITH THE OONSTITUTIOH 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY A NORTHERN MAN, WITH AMERICAN PRINCIPLES. 



PROVIDENCE: 
A. CRAWFORD GREENE & BROTHER, PRINTERS. 

185G. 






/ s 









^ 



A CONSTITUTIONAL MANUAL. 



•" " //■ ye seek to shake off your allegiance to Rome, ye Germans, ice will bring things to 
sucA a pass, that ye shall unsheath the sword of eaterminaliun against each otfie-; and pensn 
in your own blood."— The Pope's Nuncio to the Ge/7nans.— D'Acbigne. 



Camb ridge Hk\d Quarters, ? '■ 
July 17th, 1775. ^ 

General Order. — The General has great > 
reason to be displeased with the neghgence 
and inattention of the guard who have been 
placed as sentinels on the outposts^ — men 
whose character he is not acquainted with. He 
therefore orders that for the future, none but 
NATIVES OF THIS COUNTRY be placed on guard 
as sentinels on the outposts. This order to 
be considered a st.\nding one, and the offi- 
cers to pay obedience to it on their part. 

(Signed) FOX, Adjt. of the Day. 

Countersigned Exeter, ) 

Pay-roll, Dorchester. ^ 

Such was the order issued by the Father of 
his country in the days that "tried men's 
souls : " — and it was to'be a standing order ! 
Do you hear that Americans ? 

It was to be a standing order ! No hy- 
pocritical whining about the wtues of " adopt 
«</ /'iViV/.ne " \v:is Vipnrd from the lins of th( 



ed citizens " was heard from the lips of the | 
whole soul'd WASHINGTON ; it was enough 
that he ivas not acquainted with the character 
of foreigners, and he would not jeopard the ' 
cause of his country, by trusting it to their ! 
keeping. 

Again see the moral that is embodied in 
this memorable standing order repeated by 
Washington in his farewell address. " A- | 
gainst the insidious wiles of foreign influence i 
(/ conjure you to believe r/ie, fellow citizens,) 
the jealousy of a free people ought to be con- 
stantly awake, since history and experience 
prove that foreign influence is one of the most 
baneful foes of republican Government.'" 

And think you, Americans, if Washington 
could now be "with us, his penetrating mind 
would not quickly comprehend the true cause 
of the present distraction in the Union ? Would 



he, think you, be long in perceivmg that the 
question of domestic slavery is but the MEANS, 
not the real cause of our difficulties and our 
dan«-ers? and would not his discnmmatng 
mind at once trace these to their source ; and 
a glance oi' his eagle eye detect in it the hand 
of the forei"-n potentate who wields the sword 
whose "HILT IS AT Rome and its blade 

EVERY^VHERE." . 

Yes, Americans, we should agam hear lus 
voice raised in solemn warning :— " Beware, A- 
mericans, of the insidious wiles of foreign mttu- 
ence I conjure you ; your country is filled with 
the secret emissaries of foreign despots, the Jes- 
uit priesthood of Rome, the most ' b.^n-ttul 

FOES OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT.' Ihey 

i have seized upon the question of domestic sla- 
I very to sow vour land with dissention, to ar- 
ray section against section, and are secretly 
' plotting in every nook and corner of the Union 
' ' TO F.NFEEBLE THE SACRED TIES THAT NOW LINK 
; TOGETHER 'HIE VARIOUS FARTS,' and unless 
speedily rebuked, will embroil you in civil 
strife and quench your liberties in fraternal 
blood. —Arouse yourselves, fellow country- 
i men, ' frown iNDiGNANTLY ' upon their wick- 
: ed designs, keep the most vigilant watch against 
their ' insidious iviles ' and ' place iwne but 

NATHES OF THE COUNTRY ON GUARD ' ! " 

And if that true fi-iend of Washington,— ot 
America and of the rights and liberties of all 
mankind, the great and good I.a Fayette could 
now behold the elements of strife that are at 
work in our country, he too would discern the 
true source of our troubles, and pointing to the 
thousands of foreign Jesuit emissaries that 
swarm in every portion of the States, again 
mournfully cxclum, "Yes, my fearful forebo- 
dings were indeed too prophetic of the truth, 
" If'tHE LIBERTIES OF A^MEUICA ARE EVER DE- 
STROYED IT WILL BE BY RoMISII PlUESTS." 



I jield to none in the detestation of slavery 
whether of the body or the mind; under every 
form, I abominate tlie brutalizing, man-de- 
stroying monster. To free my countrj' from 
the curse of negro slavery I would gladly con- 
tribute the half of all the Avorlds goods I i)os- 
sess : nay more — I feel that if the rosponsiliili- 
ty was cast ujjon me, — to ensure such a result, 
I would sacrifice ALL that I possess. — I Avould 
trust an infant-orjjhaned family to the pro- 
tection of Divine Providence, and relying in 
His goodness, now in the decline of life, go 
forth homeless and penniless into a world 
which nearly sixty years expei'icnce has taught 
me to know full well". All this I feel that I could 
do. But yet to accomplish such a result I 
would not consent to sacrifice the union of 
these states. At this price even the boon of 
negro freedom Mould be purchased at too dear 
a rate. Faulty and imperfect as our national 
institutions may be, let thevi be overwhelmed 
or destroyed, and the cause of Universal Free- 
dom will be thrown back for centuries of 
years. 

The bare thought of a dissolution of this 
Union, should never be permitted to rest in 
an American mind. It should be held a trea- 
sonable act to give it place there. Its mo- 
mentary presence will work ])ollution. In 
the language of the immortal Washington, in 
that memorable and touching farewell address 
to his countrymen, already alluded to, — "As 
this is the point of oiu" political fortress, against 
wliich the batteries of internal and external 
enemies will be most constantly and actively, 
though often covertbj and insidiously directed. 
It is of infinite moment that every American 
should ]n-()])erly estimate the immense value 
of the National Union, to our collective and 
individual hap])iness : — he should cherish a 
cordial, habituid, and Immoveable attachment 
to it; he should accustom himself to think 
and to sj)eak of it as a ])alladium of our polit- 
ical s;ifety and prosperity ; he should Match 
for its j)rescrvation M'ith jealous anxiety ; he 
should discountenance whatever may suggest 
even a suspicion that it can In any event l)e 
abandoned, and iiidifrnnnthj/roimi upon the 
first (Idwninir of vwry attemj)t to allenlateany 
portion of Ills country from tlie rest, or to (mi- 
feeble tlie sacred ties that now link together 
the various j)arts." 

Who that reflects on the jiresent distracted 
■condition of our country can doubt that Wash- 
ington was in a degree; inspired when he thus 
poured out as It were all the affections and 
solicitude of his heart and soul in this memora- 
ble lu'.t warni.ig to his countrymen. How ten- 
derly, how earnestly does he beseech them to 
guard the nrlvlleges he had sacrificed the best 
portion ofliis life to secure to them. And 
will Aincrlcans turn a deaf ear to such an ap. 



peal from such a som-ce ? will they indeed 
rather heed the traitorous counsels of Anti or 
I'ro Slavery incendiaries or that of any other 
" internal or external enemy " of our Union, 
than to be guided by the last Avords of Wash- 
ington ? Woe ! Woe ! indeed, awaits om- 
country when Americans shall have become 
so perverted, so blind to their duties and their 
interests as to be led by such men as these, 
hoAvever '• covertly and insidiously " they 
may approach " the palladium of om- political 
safety and prosperity." 

And yet, are we not threatened with this dis- 
graceful fate? For one, I believe that nothing 
will preserve us from falling a prey to the snares 
that are spread in our midst liy the emissaries 
of foreign potentates, l)ut tlie formation of a 
great national American party. — Its motto 
should be " Our Union must he presented," 
" Americans must rule America." It should 
know no North, — no South, — no East, — no 
^Yest. 

If Americans were as patriotic now as they 
were In the early days of our republic, under 
present cicumstances such a party Mould sj;rlng 
s])ontaneously into existence. They Mould 
one and all arise in that siren i^th whiji conciovs 
virtue gives, and instead of iistenmg to the 
covert and insidious" appeals of traitors m' ho 
are using the question of slavery as an engine 
to Mork our destruction, they would "indig- 
nantly froMU upon the first daMiiing of any at- 
tempt to alieniate any portion of our country 
or to enfeeble the S.VCRED ties which noM' link 
together the various parts," under any pretence 
tvhatevcr. 

And in spite of Mhat Anti-Slavery or Pro 
Slavery demagogues — traitors or fonatlcs may 
say, such a party may be formed Mithout the 
surrender of a single in'incij)le, Mhether moral, 
religious, civil or jjolltical. I hesitate not to 
say that a calm and dispassionate examination 
of the M'hole sulyect of negro slavery as it ex- 
ists in these United States mIII convince any 
honest, truth-seeking American citizen of the 
truth of this. Startling as the assertion may 
seem, sucli will find that from the very com- 
mencement of the agitation of the qucstum In 
congress, the course pursued by the North 
in relation to domestic slavery has been almost 
M'holly Miong. 

I say that our union may be preserved by 
the formation of sufh a JJJrty as I have named 
without the surrender of any i)rlnclj)le, either 
moral — religious — civil or jiolltlcal. Negro 
slavery, the rock on M'hich our union is to 
sjjllt — is not the oidy evil in the world, for wo 
read that " the mIioIc Morld lyeth in Mlcked- 
ness ;" but yet, the better jiortlon of mankind 
are not required by any law either human or 
divine to run a muck for Its extermination. 
The Divine founder of our relljriou inculcated 



no sucli doctrine as this. He distinctly taught i its sovereign authority on original ])owers dc- 
that we should 7iot overcome evil with violence \ nved from the people. Whatever these might 
but ivith good. j he, the exigencies of the times did not admit 

The moral sense of the North it is true is I of congress nieddhng with the question 
often shocked in contemplating instances of ' of negro slavery. Its members had enough to 
cruelty and oppression that originate from the ! do to keep from being reduced to slavery 
liateful institution of negro slavery. In read- ; themselves. 

ing some of these as detiiled by Miss I3eecher j The draft of a new form of government en- 
in the Key to her wor!v entitled Uncle Tom's [ titled "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
log Cabin, I confess that occasionally a feeling \ union between the states," originating in Con- 
much akin to "letting slip the dog's of war" ] gress, was ado])ted by that body loth of Nov, 



arose within me ; but upon reflection I was 
forced to confess that abuses equally great oc- 
cur among us. In truth I would t ike it upon 
myself to collect an autlientic narrative of out- 
rages, — wrongs and cruelties equally numer- 
ous and atrocious in character as those detail- 
ed by Miss Beacher, out of the abuses that 
have occurred ^nthin the last thirty years in 
the asylums and poor houses of the little State 
of Rhode Island alone. 

And I would further take it upon mj'seLf to 
exhibit a code of Uws that was instituted, and 
until htely, practised upon, for the govern- 
ment of a community of free ichite persons in 
the same State, that will equal, if not surpass 
in enormity any code that was ever insti- 
tuted by a Southern State for the govern- 
ment of negro slaves. I doubt not that in all 
the Northern Stites countless abuses of the 
same character might be collected by anj' i)er- 
son who would take the trouble to look for 
instances of wrongs inflicted on the ])oor and 
helpless in communities nearer home than 
Georgia or Louisiana. 

Sound morality requires that reformation 
should begin at home, and true religion tea- 
ches that we must take first " the beam out of 
our own eye, before we seek to cast the mote 
out of our brother's eye." 

Before and after our Union was formed, ne- 
gro slaverv was not limited to its Southern 
portion. Most of the Northern States were 
likewise cursed with the institution, and some 
of them (Rhode Island at least) had grown 
rich by importing from Africa into the South- 
ern States the ancestors of the present race of 
negro slaves, and there disposing of them un- 
der the protection of the laws of the mother 
country, and in some instances in defiance of 
the earnest remonstrances agiinst the prac- 
tice, by our sister colonies. Great Britain at 
that day not only permitted the American co- 
lonists to keep slaves, Init compelled them to 
receive them. 

This was the state of things when on Sept. 
4lh, 1774, the Continental (.'ongress first as- 
sembled, under what was called the revolution- 
ary government. This congress, which was 
convened agreeably to a recommendation from 
Massachusetts — did not exercise any authority 
in behalf of tKe respective cok>nics---l)ut resteo? 



1777, and a circular letter sent to the several 
states " requesting them respectively to au- 
thorize their delegates in congress to subscribe 
to the same in behalf of the Stiites." Jealoas 
however of their individual rights, the states 
M'ere slow to act : but finally " in 1778 it was 
r.itified by all the states except Delaware and 
Maryland and eventually by 1 )elaware in 1779 
and by Maryland the Ist of March, 1781,when 
the confederated government superceded the 
revolutionary government." 

Under the " confederation " each state was 
to "retain every power, right and jurisdiction, 
not expressly delegatetl to congress." Most of 
the powers (if poM'ers they may be called) dele- 
gated by the States to Congress required for 
their exercise the assent of nine, and others 
that of the whole thirteen states. 

The Confederated like the Revolutionary 
governmeni, grew out of the exigencies of the 
times and was only adapted to tliem. It was 
rather an alliance than a union and depended 
almost entirely upon the spontaneous patriot- 
ism of the states and people to give the least 
force to its decrees. Congress (says an emi- 
nent writer of the times,) " possessed no pow- 
er to levy any tax, to enforce any law, to se- 
cure any right, to regidate any trade, or. even 
I the poor perogative of commanding means to 
pay its own minister at a foreign court. . They 
could contract debts, but they were without 
means to discharge them. They could pledge 
the public thith ; but they Mere incapable of 
redeeming it. They could enter into treaties ; . 
but every State in the Union might disobey 
tliem with impunity. They could contract al- 
liances ; but could not command men and mon- 
ey to give them vigor. In short, all powers 
which did not execute themselves, were at the 
mercy of the >States, and might be trampled 
upon by all with impunitj'." 

Another leading writer says : " By this po- 
litical compact the United States in Congress 
liave exclusive power for the following purpo- 
ses, without being able to execute one of 
them. They may make and conclude trea- 
ties ; but can only recommend tlie observance 
of them. They may appoint ambassadors ; 
but cannot defray even tue expenses of their 
tables. They may borrow money in their 
own name, on the faith of the Union ; but 



cannot pay a dollar. They may coin money ; 
but cannot purchase an ounce of bullion. — 
They may make war, and determine what 
number of troops are necessary, but cannot 
raise a single soldier. In short, they may de- 
clare every thing, bid do nothing." 

About the time that the Confederated 
Government went into operation, Virginia 
and New- York had made cessions of cer- 
tain territories to the federal government, — 
and at later periods, Massachusetts, South 
Carolina, Connecticut and Georgia had follow- 
ed their example. Among the powers dele- 
gated by the States to the confederation gov- 
ernment, ( " this shadow without the sub- 
stance," as it was designated by Washington) 
was that of disposing of the Western Territo- 
ry, m xdrtuc of which authority, on the 13th 
of July, 1787, Congress passed an act or ordi- 
nance, (as Congressional acts were then term- 
ed,) " for the government of the territory N. 
West of the Ohio.'" 

In this ordinance is contained what is desig- 
nated " articles of compact between the origi- 
nal States, and the j)eople and States in the 
said territory," and it is enacted that these 
shall "forever remain imalterable, imless by 
common consent." Whatever right a Con- 
gress of the Confederation might have had to 
conclude a comjxict in Ijchalf both of the orig- 
inal States and the people of the national ter- 
ritory, it seems difficult to conceive by what 
authority it could compel States not yet in ex- 
istence to become, or be made j^arties to such 
a compact. 

In this compact it is agreed by Congress 
and the States yet to be created, (not less than 
three nor more than five,) that " there shall be 
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in 
the said district, otherwise than in punish- 
ment of crimes whereof the parties shall have 
been duly convicted." It is also agreed be- 
tween the contracting parties, viz. : between 
the old thirteen States and the three or five 
States not yet in existence, that " whenever 
any of the said Stiites shall have sixty thous- 
andyVfc inhabitants tlicrein, such State shall 
be admitted by its delegates into the Congress 
of the United Sttitcs, on an equal fooling with 
the original States in all respects whatever ; 
and shall lie at liberty to form a jjcrmanent 
Constitution aiul State (iovernment : Provid- 
ed tile Constitution and (iovernmont so to be 
" formed, shall be llepul)lican, and in conformi- 
ty to the princijilcs conUiined in these arti- 
cles." 

It seems hard to exjjlain the seeming con- 
tradictions and incongruities contained in this 
act — but it is unnecessary to attempt to re- 
concile them, as the axithority by whidi they 
were created ceased to exist before any of the 
new States that were said to liave entered in- 
to the agreement were called into ln-lng. 



"A list of cases (says a nervous writer, quo- 
ted by Story,) in which Congress has been 
forced or betrayed by the defects of the con- 
federation, into violations of their chartered 
authorities, would not a little surprise those 
who have paid no attention to the subject." 
Speaking of the territories, and in reference 
to the ordinance of '87, the same writer says, 
" Congress has assumed the administration oi 
this stock. They have begun to render it 
productive. Congress has undertaken to do 
more; they have proceeded to form new 
States, to erect temporary governments, to 
ap])oint officers for them, and to prescribe the 
conditions on which new States shall be ad- 
mitted into the confederacy. All this has 
been done without the least color of constitu- 
tional authority." 

The presence of a common danger which 
had hitherto impelled the States to sustain in 
a degree the general government, being remo- 
vcfl by a treaty of peace with Great Britain, 
the confederation began to cioimble like a rojie 
of sand, or rather " was apparently exjiiring 
from mere debihty," when, after consultiition 
with other States, and stimulated perhaps by 
an alarming insurrection in Massachusetts, the 
delegation in Congress from New- York, in ac- 
cordance with the instructions from the legis- 
lature of that State, moved a resolution, re- 
commending to the several States to tike 
measures to revise and amend the Federal 
Constitution, so as to make it adequate " to 
the exigencies of the government and the pro- 
tection of the Union." This resolution was 
passed, and on the I7th of September, 1787, 
delegates from twelve States assembled in 
Convention and adopted the plan of our pre- 
sent Constitution, and directed it to be com- 
municated to Congress. Congress having re- 
ceived the report of the Convention, unani- 
mously resolved, " that the said report, with 
the resolution and letter accompanying the 
same, be transmitted to the several legisla- 
tures, in order to be submitted to a conven- 
tion of delegates chosen in each State by the 
people thereof, in conformity with the resolves 
of the convention, made and ])rovided in that 
case." Conventions were accordingly held in 
the twelve States, and the Constitution being 
ratific>d by eleven of tlunn, and Presidential 
Fkctors, Senators and Kepresentatives having 
been chosen in accordance with its jjrovisions, 
Congress assembled mider the new form of 
government on the 4th of March, 1785). A 
quorum however was not formed until the Gth 
of April, when it was found that Gkokgk 
AN'ashington, — " first in war, first in jieace, 
and first in the hearts of his countrymen," — 
was nnanimonsly elected I'resident of the U- 
nitod States of America. When, oh wlien, 
will the ])eriod again amve in tiie history of 
oui" counttry, wlien tlic virtues of otie man, and 



V 



the msdom and patriotism of a ichole people, 
will unite in producing such another result ! 

In November, 1789, the Constitution was 
ratified by the people of North Carolina, and 
in May, 1790, by those of Rhode Island,which 
completed the union of all the thirteen States. 

Hitherto the shiftmg, unstable foundations 
of the general government of the Colonies 
and States, had been somewhat after the Per- 
sian's idea of the foimdations of the world, 
which they used to allege reposed on the back 
of a great elephant, which in turn stood on 
the back of a huge tortoise, which again was 
sustained on the back of chaos, or something 
quite as indefinite. Thus the confederacy 



September, 1786, by five other States. Shay^s 
rebeUion also admonished the framers of the 
Constitution that there were dangers as well 
as inconveniences attending the absence of an 
effective Central Government. Thus, with 
Charybdis on the one hand, and Scvlla on the 
other, the fathers of the Constitution sought 
to steer a middle course, and thus avoid cast- 
ing the Ship of State on either danger. But 
like skilful and experienced pilots, the more 
imminent the peril, the more resolute and 
decided were they in their course, and the 
iirmer they grasped the helm. 

The Constitution is no milk and water con- 

-i — — - - — — - — ^^^^^^j cern. In its proAdsions, feeble and vas- 

rested on the legislatures of the colonies or cillating " may," but seldom appears ; Mhilst 
States mid the revolutionary government,— bold and imperative " shall," avows its deter- 
which last mentioned, rested mainly upon mination in every section, almost in every 
ironblous times. sentence. 

Unlike either of these apologies for a gov- The Constitution contains ample prorision 
ernment, the Constitutional government rests | to enforce all the acts that can be enacted in 
on the suffrages of the whole people, of all | accordance with itself,— so long as the mem- 
the States, as declared in their primary as- ] bers of the government it constitutes remain 



semblies. 

Whatever may be its fate, its framers cer- 
tainly did not intend that it should, like its 
predecessor, " expire from mere debility." 
The powers conferred by the constitution on the 
Federal government are few indeed, and in- 



true to their oaths of office. In the discharge 
of their official duties it was never mtended 
that they should be amenable to any other 
tribunal than that of the laws. 

The Constitution provides that the Presi- 
dent shall be voted for by Electors chosen by 



tended to operate in general rather as a shield \ the people. But when once elected to that 



than a sword, but then they are absolute as 
far a.s they go. They are carefully, nicely de- 
fined, but then ample powers are conferred to 
carry them into effect 

No one can study that remarkable produc- 
tion without feeling sensible that there were 



high station, it was never intended that he 
should 1)0 kept in leading strings by his Hec- 
tors, or be held in any degree responsible to 
them for his public acts. 

The same instrument prorides that Sena- 
tors shall be elected bv the leg-islatures of the 



*' giants in tlwse days ." — giants in intellect— States ; but it is not intended by the spirit of 
giants in political experience and sagacity— j 'the Constitution that the authority or super^ 

* '''" '■"" "'^" -1--1' vision of the legislature shall extend ^arf^^r 

than the j)erformance of this elective duty, 
any more than in the case of Electors of Pre 
sident. 

The Constitution also prorides that the 
members of the lower house of Congress shall 
be elected by " the people of the several 
States ; " but when thus elected, these are no 
longer amenable to the people of the respec- 
tive States for their acts, but to the people of 
the United States, whose servants they are. 

The two houses of Congress and the Presi- 
dent constitute in tact the Federal govern^ 
ment. In these reside the whole legislative 
and executive power of the United Stiites of 
America. iJuring their term of office, every 
individual that com])ose these departments, 
fi-om the moment they take the oath to sup- 
port the Constitution, become members of a 
government of limited powers, but yet as 
complete in itself, and as independent of the 
respective States in the exercise of its powers, 
as is the Emperor of Russia. These are 
bound by their oaths of office to discharge 



giants in public virtue. The men who fram 
ed the Constitution of the United States seem- I 
ed to be well av/are of what they were about. 
They had just escaped from the iron rule of a 
powerful, consolidated, and to them and theirs, 
despotic government. They did not mean to 
place the liberties of the people, or the re- 
spective sovereign rights cf the States in jeo- 
pardy by instituting one of the same character 
on their own soil. On the other hand, the 
dear-bought experience of those great men of 
the Revolution, had tiught them that there 
were many inconveniences and dangers to be 
apprehended from the other extreme. In the 
absence cf a Federal government, with appro- 
priate powers to conduct the leading national 
concerns, common alUve to all of the sovereign 
States that composed the confederated Re- 
public, many diHiculties and dangers were ra- 
pidly accumulating. Among others, the ne- 
cessity of some general law in relation to the 
levying of duties on imports had been discuss- 
ed first in the legislature of Virginia, and sub- 
sequently in a convention held at Annapolis in 



8 



their official duties solely with a Aiew to pro- 
mote, not the local good of the respective \ 
States, but the " general welfare of the Unit- I 
ed States." } 

The Constitution comcm])latcs that a Rc])- , 
resentative in Congress elected by the pcojjle 
of Massachusetts, shall consider himself no i 
more responsible to his electors than he is to 
the people of Mississippi. In fact everj- \ 
member of Congress, whether Senator or Re- ' 
presentixtive, is elected by the whole people 
of the United States. In choosing these, the 
legislatm-e and people of the respective States 
exercise a power not their ow7i, but one that 
is delegated to them by the whole people of I 
the United States, as set forth in the form 

{)rescribed in the Constitution. "When the e- [ 
ectors of a State choose a representative of 
their own local legislature, they exercise a 
right belonging to the people of the States 
respectively ; but should they at the same 
time cast their votes for the election of 3 
member of Congress, they then exercise a 
right belonging to the people of the United 
States. 

As used in the Constitution, th-e term "The 
United States of .America ^' is not intended to 
be understood as a phrase, but as one word. 
It is not used to convey to the mind the idea 
of a confederacy of States, but of one nation. 
It is simply one loord of many sj'llables. 

The doctrine of " instruction " that has ob- 
tained permanence and ascendancy in many 
States of the Union, is heretical in its charac- 
ter, and calculated to confound and mystifj- 
the line of demarcation that divides Federal 
and Stiite Rights, and M'hich should ever be 
kept clear and well defined, for the safety (5f 
both. No individual or party influence, nor 
seeming case of expediency, should ever tempt 
either the Federal or State Governments to 
trespass over this line. Like wary navigators 
in charge of costly freights, both liud better 
give a wider berth than is absolutely requisite 
to the dangerous reef, than risk collission by 
approaching it too near. 

Whatever ])o\vers Congress under the con- 
federation may have really jjossesscd ui regard 
to legislating for the territories of the Union, 
it is certain tliat they ex])ired when that form 
of government was superseded by tlie present 
Constitution. 'J'he latter hdierited nothing 
from it« defunct jjredccessor. Its framers 
liad no intention that it sliould. They luid al- 
ready cxj)erienced enough of the blessings of 
liereditury government, and liated its very 
name. All tJie jjowcrs i)Ossessed by Congress 
under that instrument, m relation to tiie ter- 
ritories or any otlier matter, as before said, 
are distinctly defined within itself. Congress 
neither possesses nor can derive ])ower from 
anv other source than that conferred on it bv 



the Constitution. Any thing contained in the 
ordmance of 1787, not consistent va\h the 
provisions of the Constitution, became null 
and void the moment the new government 
went into effect. 

Accordingl}- we find Congi-css as early as 
August 7, 1789, engaged in passing an act 
entitled, "An act to provide for the govern- 
ment of the territory North "West of the O- 
hio," the first clause of which reads thus : 

"JiTiereas, in order that the ordinance of 
the United States in Congress assembled, for 
the government of the territory North West 
of the river Ohio, may continue to have full 
effect, it is requisite that certain provisions 
should be made, so as to adapt the same to 
the present Constitution of the United States, 
Be it enacted," &e. 

Now unless the stream can rise higher than 
its source. Congress had no power to give va- 
lichty to any of the enactments of this ordi- 
nance of '87, that it had not constitutional 
powers to enact itself. The confederated fonn 
of government was established by the legisla- 
tures of the individual States. Voting in Con- 
gress was by States, not by indiAidual mem- 
bers. The constitutional fonn of government 
was instituted by the people of the States. It 
follows that if the Constitution confers no po- 
wer on its Congress to prohibit domestic sla- 
very in Sfcitcs to be admitted into the Union 
from the North West territory, that body 
could ha^•e had no rightful authority to per- 
petuate or give vahdity to any act to the same 
effect, that may have been passed under the 
confederation, even su])posing that its Con- 
gress possessed competent powers to pass 
such an act. 'i'his makes a clean sweep of all 
the prospective congressional legislation that 
took place on the subject of negro slavery in 
the North West territory, at least so far as it 
is not m accordance M'ith our ])resent Consti- 
tution. All the sovereign rights that the 
States of this Union eve)- have possessed, are 
not and cannot be in the least imjvaired or di- 
minished (without an amendment rf the Con- 
stitution.) excepting so far as thcf have sur- 
rendered a jjortion of these to the Federal go- 
vernment for the " general welfare " of all the 
j States — all the rights or ])owers thus conferr- 
I ed, being ex])licitly defined and determined in 
' the articles of tlie Constitutio;'. 
1 That the right to r lain or abolish the insti- 
j tution of slavery rem ined solely with the old 
tliirteen States respecti\cly at the period 
I Mhen the C(>nstitution M'as fonned, no one 
I will question.- ,- 

As before said, many of the Northern States I 
\ were slave-holding States at the jjeriod of the / , 
j adoj)tion oftheConstitution. Most or all of tliem 
I soon abolished tlieinstitution : whether from 
principle or expediency it is unnecessary to 



k 



\ 



examine, as it Anil not be denied that all or 
any of these have the constitutional power to 
establish the same Avithin their own borders 
at any time M'ithout hindrance or restraint 
from the federal government. No act of 
Congress could prevent this. Congress has 
.no constitutional right to prevent it. Con- 
gress would have as good right to enact that 
the people of Ilhode Island should not raise 
Indian corn, as that they should not keej) ne- 
gro slaves. What Congress has no right to 
dictate to Rhode Island, it has no right to dic- 
tate to any other- State of this Union. 

There are other public evils of even greater 
magnitude than negro slavery, that no l)ranch 
of the Federal government has any right to 
interpose Its authority to prevent, in the wea- j 
kest State or territory of this Union. Among 1 
these are : religious liberty, freedom of speech j 
and of the press. I 

In s])itc of Congress, the people of the I 
State* of Massachusetts may go back if they 
please to the days when their Endieotts, and 
WInthrops, administered colonial laws for 
drowning witches and hanging Quakers ; — 
whilst those of Maryland, might with equal 
impunity re-enact the boasted code, given to 
them by that great apostle oiTeligious liberty. 
Lord Baltimore, by which Universalists and 
Unitarians were to be punished with death. — 
Now, whilst but a baj'e majority of the States 
of the Union have abohshed by law the insti- 
tution of Negro Slavery, all but one have In- 
serted provisions in their Constitutions, as- 
serting, and establishing the InaHenable rights 
of conscience, and perfect rcUgious freedom. 
But notwithstanding the almost entire unani- 
mity accorded by the respective States on this 
momentous question, the legislature of Louis- 
iana may proceed at any time to enact laws 
for the Imprisonment of Bible readers, as Is 
now done In Italy, or to toTture and l)urn the 
same class of heretics, as was fomierly done 
in every Catholic country where the successor 
of the fisherman held sway. Startling as It 
may seem to some. Congress, nor any branch 
of the Federal government, has any authority 
to interfere Mith this sovereign right of a State 
of this Union, as the Pope's emissaries were 
no doubt well aware of, through whoso Influ- 
ence, religious lll^erty was left an open ques- 
tion In the Constitution of Louisiana, to be 
more accurately defined when Poperj' became 
more positively dominant within the borders 
of that State," than it was when that Instru- 
ment was ratified. 

Over the District of Columbia, and "all 
places purchased by the consent of the legis- 
latures of the States, in which the same shall 
be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arse- 
nals, dock-yards, and other needful build- 
ings," the Constitution clearly empowers Con- 



gress " to exercise legislation In all case 
whatsoever," with the exception that " Con" 
gress shall make no law respecting an estab" 
llshment of religion, or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or tlic right of the 
people peaceably to assemble and to petition 
the govcTument for a redress of grievances."' 
That through executive usurpation and despot- 
Ism, the freedom of speech, and of the press, 
is not only abridged, but almost annihllated,- 
in many of these "places," Is notorious ; but 
Congress has no powers to legislate at all on 
these questions, for any State, district, terri- 
tory, or place, in this Union, under any cir- 
cumstances whatever. 

But in the District of Columbia, and in all 
those " places " ceded to the General govern- 
ment. Congress may either establish, or abol- 
ish, the institution of negro slavery, as cir- 
cumstances and expediency may dictate. — 
Congress may, if It jileases, within the letter of 
the Constitution, enact that none but negro 
slaves shall be employed on the public works 
In Charlestown, In j\Iassachusetts ; and Con- 
gress may on the other hand forliid the em- 
ployment of Slave labor on those at Charles- 
ton, In South CaroUna. iVll this Congress 
may do should It see fit to outrage public o- 
plnlon, by adhering to the letter of the Con- 
stitution, Irrespective of its spirit. 

Over the l)istrict of Columbia, and " all 
places " purchased by the General govern- 
ment, for the public purposes designated in 
the Constitution, that instrument constitutes 
Congress the sole law-making power. Over 
all these Congress " exercises exclusive legis- 
lation, in all cases whatsoever." 

Now mark the difterence between the lan- 
guage here used, and that employed by the 
same men, when they came to define the pow- 
ers it Is meant to confer on Congress, In rela- 
tion to the territory belonging to the United 
States, but not appropriated to national pur- 
poses. 

*' The Congress shall have power to dispose 
of and make all needful rules and regulations 
respecting the territory or other property be- 
longing to the United States ; and nothing in 
this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, or 
of any jjartlcular State." 

But the manifest diff"erence of the wording 
here used, in contradistinction to that adopted 
in the first mentioned clause of the Constitu- 
tion, is not greater than Is the nature of the 
powers intended to be conferred. The one 
clause of the Constitution relates solely to Ju- 
risdiction, the other solely Xo property. In 
one instance. Congress Is empowered to gov- 
esn people, In the other Congress is merely 
authorized to hold and to sell, or " dispose '' 



10 



of propedy. In the one instance, Confrress ; provision is made in the Constitution, for the 
i s " to exercise exclusive legislation in all ca- i exercise of any civil authority in the territories, 
ses whitsover " over certain " districts and ', — it does not follow that necessiti/ " the plea 
places"; in the other. Congress is to make; of Tyrants," justifies any such assumption by 
all " nee'dful rules and regulations" necessary 1 either branch of the Federal government, — for 
to enable it to dispose of the " territory or \ the Constitution expressly declares, that 
other properUj belonging to the United i " The enumeration in the Constitution, of 
States." ' certain righ's, shall not be construed to deny 

This clause of the Constitution does not, 1 or disj)arage others retained by the people" 
nor was it ever meant, to constitute Congress ! And again — " The powers not delegated to 
the leo-islature of the territories alluded to ; ! the United States by the Constitution, nor 
neithe°r does it confer on that body any power 1 prohibited by it to_ the States, are reserved to 
to make any law, rule, or regulation, that is the States respectively or to the people." 
not " need/id," to enable it to protect, and There is no distinction here made between 
dispose, of the public property. | the people of the territories, and those of the 



States ; they are m both cases, alike left to in- 
stitute their own governments, and to execute 
their own laws ; with the exception that the 
would not haVe been uf.ed to connect the two 1 judicial authorities of the Federal government 
nouns. The use of that adjective, proves | is not recognised in the Constitution as claim- 
conclusivelv that the character 'of the two ar- j ing jurisdiction over the people of the territo- 



If the framers of this clause of the Consti 
tution had not been treating " territory | 
solely as " property," the word " other " 



tides is the same. Otherwise, the expression 
would be as absurd as if it had been said,— 
Congress shall have power to regulate terri- 
tories or other caitle ; or that Congress shall 
have power to regulate property or other ter- 
ritory. 

Whilst the Constitution clearly and empha- 
tically provides for the government of the 
district and " places " set apart for the 
uses of the Feder d government, it would seem 
that either designedly, or through inadvert- 



ries in any event, whatever. 

It would seem that the pco])le of the terri- 
tories, equally with those of the States, are 
presumed by the Constitution to be endowed 
by their Creator (as the signers of 'TO suppos- 
ed our foreiathers to be) with certain "inalien- 
able rights," which neither the States, nor the 
United States, has any just authority to de- 
])rive them of; among which is the right to in- 
stitute their own government, " in sucli form, 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect 



ance, no provision is made in that insti-ument , their safety and happiness." 
for the exercise of either legislative or judicial Whilst a territory is the property of the 
authority over the people inhabiting the " lev- United States, Congress has the Constitutioiral 
rttorles 'of the United States" Neither is | right, no doubt, to defend it from invasion, or 
there any authority conferred on the Presi- 1 depredation, if needs be, by cmjjloying the mi- 
dent, or Senate, to appoint a Governor, or ci- litary and naval force of the whole nation; but 
ther officer, over the same, unless it can be when Congress has transferred the i'oe of the 
shown that the appointment of such an officer same, to other parties, it has no farther juris- 
is " needful " for the protection of the public diction over it or its occupants. These purcha- 
property, and the enforcing of such '• needful sers of the territory have then a right to insti- 
rules and re"-ulations," as Congress may make I tute such a form of government as they sup- 
for the disposal of the same. As chief execu I pose will best promote "their safety and happi- 
tivc officer and commander-in-chief, of the ness ; " and it is only in the event tliat these 
milirary and naval forces of the United States, I do apply and are admitted into this Union as a 
the rresldent may, in cither emergency, con- | State, that the Constitution confers on the Ge- 
stitidionatty subject a "territory of the Unit- j neval government any right to interfere or ex- 
ed States " to martial law, but no authority, 1 crcisc any control over their concerns, 
either by letter, spirit, or implication, can be It is true, that it b^omes the duty of the 
adduced from the Constitution, for the ap- Federal government, to restrain and prevent 
jjointment of a permanent governor over the any invayion of such a territory, similar to that 
the people of the same, either by the Presi- now attemiited liy citizens of Missouri in Kan- 
dent or either house of Congress. sas, the same as it is the duty of the government 
It is true thatthe Constitution docs not pro- to restrain the bands of desperadoes that are 
hibit the President, with the advice of tiie Sen- occasionally organizing in this country, for the 
ate, from ajjpointing a governor over the peo- purpose of invading aud making war on the 
pie of a territory of tile United States; nor government of Cuba, — of Nicaragua, or that of 
does it pr()hil)it him from ajipointing a governor any other foreign country, 
over the peojjle of a State ; but neither is any Ihit admitting that the Ordinance and com- 
such power oonferred on the I 'resident, in the p(tct of 1787, as passed by the Congress of 
onC case more than in the other, liecause no 



tlie Confederated and ratified by that of the 



iV 



Constitutional government does possess the 
binding force of Constitutional law on all the 
parties declared by the act of Congress to be 
concerned, viz: the States respectively forming 
the Union, — the people of the North Western 
territories, — and the new States not yet, but to 
be established in them ; the provisions of that 
Ordinance do not apply to the territories since 
acquired by the United States ! There is notli- 
ing in the Constitution that authorizes the ac- 
quisition of new territory, by the General gov- 
ernment ! " New States may be admitted by 
the Congress," but no where do we find, that, 
JVew Territory " may be admitted or acquir- 
ed. It does not seem that the fraraers of the 
Constitution, ever contemplated or provided 
for such an event At the period the Consti- 
tution was made, and finally ratified and adopt- 
ed, after the most stormy opposition and ran- 
corous debates, both in the National and State 
conventions, the leading minds of the country 
were exceedingly fearful that the formation of 
a National government for the States then ex- 
isting would not be accomplished— and the 
framers of the Constitution in the then ex- 
hausted and feeble condition of the country, 
seemed to have little thought of adding to the 
public domain by purchase — much less by 
conquesl. 

But giving to this clause of the Constitution 
even the most latitudinarian sense contend- 
ed for by any, and then the true meaning of 
the word " needful " limits the power of Con- 
gress not only in making rules and regulations,^ 
but in enacting laws for the territories. If 
the term be viewed abstractedly, to be defined 
by the arbitrary will of C^ongress, an interjjre- 
tation may be given it, that will sujipose all 
laws relating to the territories " needful " that 
the majority of Congress may deem expedient. 
If northern influences should predominate in 
that body, at one period, it might be deemed 
expedient and needful to make a " rule, or 
regulation," (for these are not dignified in the 
Constitution by the name of laws,) forbidding 
the institution of slavery in the territories, 
Avhilst at another period, through a predomi- 
nance of southern influences in Congress, it 
might be voted that it was expedient and need- 
fid that the people of the territories should be 
compelled by the General government to a- 
dopt the institution of negro slavery. 

15ut if the word " needful " be interpreted 
in unison with the spirit of the Constitution 
and with the spirit of the State institutions,. 
the Constitution is intended to shield and pro- 
tect, then Congress should not make any " rule 
©r regulation" in any territory of the United 
States, with intent to promote the introduction 
of any peculiar state or sectional institution, or 
the hindrance or exclusion of those of any oth- 
.er State, or section of the Union, presuming 



these to be alike Constitutional. It cannot b^ 
shown that any such "rule or regulation' 
would be " needful." 

It is true the sovereign State of Massachu- 
setts, might assert on th e floor of Congress 
that it is " needful " that the Georgia j^lanter 
should not introduce his slave s into any terri- 
torv belonging to the United States north of 
36 deg. 30 min. 

The sovereign state of Georgia might also 
assert Avith equal Constitutional propriety that 
it is " needful " that the Massachusetts far- 
mer should not introduce the raising of Indian 
corn into the territory, south of the same line. 
It might be argued pro and con with equal 
propriety, that the introduction of the one 
v/ould tend to promote the ascendancy of what 
are called southern institutions, in the territo- 
ry, and that those peculiar to the North, 
would be fostered by the introduction of the 
other. 

Abhorrent as the sentiment appears to the 
northern mind, as before stated, the Constitu- 
tion of the United States regards both these 
questions as standing on the same foundation. 
No right to interfere in relation to either has 
been conferred on the General government. 

If the territory of Kansas or any one of those 
lying farther North & West in wjjfich the prin- 
ciple of the Missouri compromise is still in force 
were to apply for admission into the Union to 
morrow, Congress has only the sarr^e right to 
compel the citizens of the new State to agree 
not to keep negro slaves, that it has to com- 
pel them not to raise Indian corn. K it has 
then we h .ve practically two National Consti- 
tutions, the one applying to the old, and the 
other to the new States of the Union. This 
no one will admit. Every State of this Union 
is equally sovereign, and bear the precise re- 
lation to the general Government, and to each 
other respectively, whether they came into the 
Union in 1787, or in the year 1855. 

l)ut supjiosing that Congress really has the 
right, and should enact that the people of Kan- 
sas, or of any other territory applying for ad- 
mission, should not permit the institution of 
slavery in the new State ; what an anamolous 
species of legislation it would be ! — For argu- 
ment's sake we may grant that during the dis- 
cussion of the bill whilst the territory is in a 
transition state (as it were) Congress wia?/ have 
the Constitutional right to dictate as a needjid 
regulation that slavery shall not be permitted 
to exist within its borders. But when the law 
is enacted, when the territory has passed by 
act of Congress into a sovereign state, by what 
authority can it enforce the fulfilment of 
any such rule ? The moment the President's 
signature is attached to the act, the territory 
springs at once into a sovereign State, inves- 
ted with all the rights and powers of the old 



12 



thirteen, and as independent of Congress and 
the Federal government, in regard to the 
question of negro slavery, as is the kingdom 
of Great Britain. What an anamolous species 
of legislation 1 what children's play, for Con- 
gress'thus to enact a law, which neither it, or 
iinv branch of the Federal government has 
any right, or authority, to enforce. 

I repeat that if Congress has the constitu- 
tional right to dictate to a new State om 
clause of its Constitution, it has as good right 
to dictate two, Jive, ten, or the whole. _ It 
would thus have tlie jjower of eontroUing 
through their respective fundamental codes, 
the domestic concerns of every new State ad- 
mitted into the Union. Starting at the point 
of time when the constitutional government 
commenced, Congress would thus have been 
clothed with competent powers l^y that instru- 
ment to consolidate (practically) under pne 
central government, every foot of this Union, 
with the exception of the old thirteen States. 
"With this right conceded, all else required of 
the Federal government by the Constitution, 
is, that the outside form of the State govern- 
ments shall be republican ; nothing more: — 
substantially they would be mere ])rovinces, 
or departments,' of a consolidated republic, 
the sovereifji powers of which would be con- 
centrated in Washington. How preposter- 
ous to suppose that such was the intention of 
the far-seeing men who framed the Constitu- 
tion — men who for seven long weary years had 
been expending their treasure and their blood 
to free their country fi-om despotic rule, and 
Tid it of a list of crying grievances, the very 
first of which, as enumerated in the declara- 
tion, they had pledged •' their lives, their for- 
tmies and their sacred honors,'' to maintain, 
they M-ere now about conferring the power on 
the" Federal government to inliict anew. 

If this was their intention, what a sudden 
change nnist have come over their sjjirits and 
the spirits of the people who ratified their do- 
ings. Hitherto so jealous had been the same 
people of consolidated power, so tenacious had 
they \)een of the individual rights of the colonies 
and the States, that both the " Revolutionary 
trovcrnnicnt originating from the one, and the 
r^onfe deration instituted by the other, possess- 
ed scarcely a seml)lance of sovereign ])o\ver, but 
depended'idmost wholly on the voluntary ac- 
cord and action of the people and States, to 
give their decrees or rather declarations, the 
least ])raclical force. And now if the case sup-. 
])osed is true, we behold these same men pla- 
cing a power in the hands of Congress that 
would enable them to comiiel every new State 
admitted into the Union to become a vassal 
of the (General government. 

Atid how i.-, it alleged that this enormous 
power is conferred on Congress ? "New States 



maij be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union." This little sentence contains it all. 

That's the Trojan horse from the entrails 
of which this power has emanated. Congress 
may admit new States: — and what is a State ? 
a State in the sense the term was meant by 
the framers of the Constitution to imply. Cer- 
tainly not a State organized after tlie fashion 
of an Italian, a German, or any other foreign 
State ? but an American State I Precisely 
such a thing as one of the old thi7ieen : nei- 
ther more, nor less ! Clothed with every sov- 
ereign power that each and all individually 
possess, in everi/ respect, and beai-ing in everi/ 
respect the same relation to the Federal gov- 
ernment. 

This was such a State as the framers of the 
Constitution meant to create. Congress has 
no right to admit and other. Xo other could 
in reality become a member of this Union. — 
If deprived of the least sovereign right possess- 
ed by its sister States, it could not come in as 
as an equal. It would not be equal. The 
attempt of Congress to dict;\te a Constitution 
or any clause contained in it, to any State ap- 
plying for admission into this Union, farther 
than to make It compatilde with the provis- 
ions of the Constitution of the United States, 
is an act of sheer usurpation, and should be 
so regarded by every American ])atriot. 

Every new State that is admitted into this 
, Union, is obligated by the simple act of admis- 
sion to conform in tverij respect to the re- 
quirements of the Constitution of the United 
I States. To be convinced of the truth of this 
; we need only to turn to an act of Congress and 
observe the form of such admission. 'Jake 
that for instance by which Vermont became a 
State of this Union, aj;proved February 18th, 
' 1791. 

"^^n act for the admission of the Stale oj 
Vermont into this Union — 
I The State of Vermont having petitioned 
Congress to be admitted a member of the 
: United States, Be it enacted hj the Senate and 
House of Representatives oftfie United States 
of America in Congress assembled, and it is 
herehj enacted and declared, that on the fourth 
day of March, One Thousand Seven I lundrcd 
Ninety One, the said State, by the name and 
style of 'The Stiite of Vermont' shall be re- 
ceived and admitted into this Union, as a new 
and entire member of the United States of 
America." 

What admirable simplicity I Here we be- 
hold a new State admitted to tjike her place In 
this Union " as a new and entire member " by 
virtue of an act that scarce exceeds in length 
the ticket wliich entitles a ))a.ssenger to enter 
a railroad car. But the act was lengthy e- 
nough ! And why ? Because the St;\te of 
i Vermont did not look to Congress to Iciirn 



13 



what were either her obligations or her rights 
as a member of the Union, but to the Consti- 
tution of the United States of America. 

The Constitution imposes negative as M'ell 
as positive duties on Congress, and if a new 
State applying for admission into the Union, 
should even offer to surrender an}- of the 
sovereign powers retained by the old Thir- 
teen, Congress would have no more right to 
accept of such a surrender than it would to 
compel it. The one Avould be an assum])tion 
of power scarcely less dangerous to the rights 
and liberties of the people and the States, 
than the other : for frequently what undis- 
guised force cannot compel, intrigue and arti- 
fice may induce. ] 

Strictly speaking it is unnecessary that Con- 
gress should know what the Constitution of any 
proposed State contains. No member or officer 
of the Federal government obligates himself 
to maintain the Constitution of any particular 
State, when he takes his oath of office ; whilst 
evei'Jj member of the respective Stale legisla- 
tures, and all State executive and judicial offi- 
cers are obhgated by their oath or aiiirmation 
of office to support the Constitution of the 
United States. 

Every new State coniing into this Union is 
bound to observe and to obey the requirements 
of the Constitution of " the United St;ites of 
America," whatever may be the character of 
its own fundamental law, and however re])ug- 
nant may be any of its provisions to the laws 
of the United States. The Federal govern- 
ment has the light, and is clothed M'ith power 
to compel the overt action of a State, whatever 
its Constiturional laws may be, to conform in 
everyj respect to the Constitutional laws of the 
the United States. It has the right and means, 
to exact this, and it has no right to require 
more. 

When the State of Missouri came into the 
Union, the Constitution that had been framed 
by its citizens, contained a clause, prohibiting 
the immigration of free jjcople of colour into 
that State. This caused a long and angry de- 
bate in Congress, which was finally brought 
to a close by the adojition of a compromise 
resolution, introduced by Mr. Clay, simply c- 
nacting that the authorities ef the State of 
Missoiu'i, by solemn ad, should dcclire that 
if there was any thing contained in their State 
Constitution incompatiljlo with the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, it should not be en- 
forced. As a pi'ccautionary, conciliatory mea- 
sure, it Mas wise in Congress thus to antici- 
pate, and disarm, by jieaceable legislation, 
what might otherwise require force to re- 
move. But such legislation was not strictly 
necessary. A decision of the Supreme Court 
would have been equally obligatory on the 
State of Missouri as its own ad. 



Congress has no more rigbt to compel a 
State applyingfor admission into tlie llnion, 
to surrender any sovereign right of an inde- 
pendent State, not -mong those enumerated 
as being surrendered by tlie States to the 
Federal Government in the Constitution, 
than a State has the rigbt to demand admis- 
sion into the Union, and retain any one 
that is. Congress would have had no more 
right to have required of the State of Louis- 
iana, when it tipplicd for admission into the 
Union, that its citizens should first insert a 
clause in its Constitution, prohibiting the 
institution of Slavery, than Louisiana would 
have had to demaud to be admitted, with a 
clause in the same instrument, denying the 
right of Congress to levy duties on foreign 
goods imported into New Orleans. 

If there is power deposited any where, 
(except by amendment of the (Jonstitution) 
competent to deprive any State applying for 
admission into this Union, of any of the sov- 
ereign rights possessed by the old thirteen, 
it resides with the States respectively, or 
with the people of the States, for it is 
clearly defined in the Constitution, that 
'" The powers not delegated to the United 
1 States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
I by it to the States, are resery erf to the Slates 
\ respedivelv, or to the people.'" 
'] From whence then does Congress derive 
its power to deprive either a State or the 
people, of any civil, political, or char- 
tered right, not enumerated in the Constitu- 
tion ! Who conferred such a right upon 
'that body? Do we find it among those 
" delegated to the United States, in the 
Constitution?" Do we find it among such 
as are " prohibited by it to the States?"— 
! Clearly not ! Can it be extorted by impli- 
cation from that part of the Constitution, 
that confers on Congress the right "To make 
all laws wliich shall he necessary and proper 
for carrying into execution all powers ves- 
ted by the Constitution in the government 
of the United States, or in any departmmt or 
office thereof." Is there a wily casuist in all 
the Jesuit colleges that curse the earth, who 
can extract such a power by inference from 
this clause ? St. Ligouri, though he might 
distil poison from the"^ sermon on the mount, 
and extract divine authority, for the commis- 
l sion of the greatest crimcs,from every page of 
' the New Testament, Avould himself tm-n from 
such an attempt in despair ! 
! Can such a power be drawn by implication 
' from the mode of expression adopted in the 
clause in the Constitution before referred to, 
conferring on Congress the power of admitting 
new States? Because "new States man be 
: admitted by Congress," does it follo^y that 
I Congress "may " require the people of them, 



14 



to surrender to the Federal government, sov- s tliis Union, should certainly be clothed witTi 
ereign rights not delegated to the Federal gov- ' discrelionary authority to meet such cases as 
ernment in the Constitution or prohibited by i these. 

it to the States ? Did the fathers of this re- j We hear much about the Missouri Com- 
public of sovereign States, indeed mean to in- , promise, much about the solemnity with 
stitute a union composed of a medley of this which it was ratified ; and how base and 
character? did they mean to place a power dishonorable the South has behaved, in re- 
in the hands of the Federal government that ' gard to its repeal. That its repeal was in- 
would thus enable them to degrade, to humil- [ judicious and inexpedient, I will readily 
iate any portion of the people of this country ?; grant. Further, I feel that the name of 
that would put it in the power of a delegate i Douglass, the Northern demagogue, the 
from one of the old thirteen States to rise in i tool of the Jesuit priesthood, (though per- 
his seat on the floor of Congress, and re- haps unwittingly,) should go down to pos- 
mind a fellow member that he came not there terity allied with those of Arnold and Burr, 
as his peer, — that he was not his equal ; — ' for the prominent part he took in its re- 
that he was the representative of the people i peal. I grant that the moral ofiect of the 
of a State, who had purchased its admission ' Missouri Compromise was good, eminently 
into the Union by the surrender of a part of good ; but that it hud any binding legal 
the sovereign rights that belonged to it, and force, farther than what the voluntary ac- 
which were retained by the people of the I quiesence of the people gave it, cannot be 
State which he /liffwc^ represented ? That in I maintained. It was simply a legislative 
fact he came not there as an untrammelled . act, to make the most of it, which, if Con- 
representative chosen by the people of a' sove- gress wat competent to pass, it certainly 
reign Stivte of the Union — but as the vassal I had as good a right to repeal, 
delegate of a fief of the Federal government ! i I say we hear much of the solemnities 
Can any one suppose that such was the in- | attending the passage of the act. So we 
tention of the framers of the Constitution or do of the solemn rigmarole accompanying 
of the peo])le M'ho ratified it ? : the edicts of the Emperor of China. These 

The woid|''may" may have been used because 1 neither add to nor diminish the force of the 
the liamcrs of the articles of the Constitution, law. It was enacted at a period when it is 
did not intend by the adoption of a more em- probable the Western boundary of ^lissou- 
phatic or affirmative mode of expression, to ^ ri vsachcd as far into tne wilderness as any 
encourage the jjeople of a new State, to come pa.iti^ ipator in the decree supposed this U- 
thundering at the doors of Congress, with a nion ot ' tates ever would extend, and be- 
positive demand for admission. The fathers fore the immeuse new additional territory 
of the Constitution, were sensible and well had been pui based, and plundered, from 
bred men, and the word used was just the one our weaker neighbors l)y the cupidity and 
such would be apt to adoj)t under the cu'- violence of lx)th Nortliern and Southern in- 
cumstances. fluenees. The generation that then lived 

Besides this, the Constitution permits the have passed away, and their successors are 
receiving of foreign States into the Union (as in neither legally or politically bound to sus' 
the instance of Texas) ])rovIded they conform tain the law under existing circumstances 
to its requisitions, and it would luive been 
highly injudicious, and impolitic, to have com- 
pelled the admission of sucli in all cases mere- 
ly because they did com])ly with tlie terms 
laid down in the Constitution. The whole of 
the twenty odd ])rovinces of Mexico, miglit for 
mstiince, rcsjjectively ;M'])ly for admission into 
this Union. They might all com])ly with the 
provisions of our National Constitution; and 
yet wliilst each of them retained on their stat- 
ute books, laws proliihiting tlie free exercise of 
religion, it might be higlily impolitic, and in- 
expedient, to admit them as States of the Un- 
ion, to say nothing of the inconvenience that 
might l)e -experienced hi Congress, iissrmbled, 
by tlie admission into its halls of an huiulred or 



Wo of the North resisted not the acqui- 
sition of Louisiana, and are equally guilty 
with the South in assisting to plunder our 
sister liejaildie of an immense territory ; — 
and although it is characteristic, and natu- 
ral, still it ill l)ccomes us to fall out with 
our brother iliicvcs in relation to the divis- 
ion of the ]ilunder. 

If we meant to bo honest in our endea- 
vors to stay the extension of negro slavery, 
we sliould' have resisted the acquisition of 
territory liv the Union as strenuously as wo 
are now contending for its sectional pos- 
session, and success would tlien most pro- 
bably have cn)wned our efforts. But we 
were too much blinded by eoveoutness to 



more half breed Indian members, each with discern the scorpion that lay concealed in 
an hiterpretcratliis elliow, to du])licate sneecli- the tempting fruit ; we grasped it, reckless 
es of which one edition would probably be es- of the future, and we must abide the conse- 
teemed (piile sufiicient. The body, to wliicli queiices. 
power is delegated to admit new' Slates into ; However sinful negro slavery may be, how- 



15 



ever hateful in our eyes, however much Ave 
of the North may desire the overthrow of 
the institution, — the Constitution places no 
weapons in our hands to assist us in accom- 
plishing its destruction. The framci-s of that 
instrument never intended to do any such 
thing. They ])robably supposed that the in- 
stitution Avould in no great period of time die 
out, (as it were) and become extinct in North 
America. Events in the early history of our 
republic seemed to indicate such a result : — 
commencing at the North, State followed State 
in letting the captive go free. Already was Ma- 
son and Dixon's line reached in the emu- 
lating race. — ^Already M^ere the great States of 
Virginia and Kentucky, (the very strongholds 
of slavery,) preparing to follow suit, sure to 
be simultaneously imitated bv Delaware and 
Maryland ; when in an evil hour foreign fa- 
natics Avith more zeal than brains, found their 
way to our shores, and aided in their insane 
mission by too many Americans, sought to 
hasten the action of the people of the slave 
holding states by heaping insult and abuse on 
their heads. The natural consequences follow- 
ed. Men whose sires did not quail before the 
armies of Britain, were not to be driven by 
the taunts of such incendiaries, even in the di- 
rection of their own bent. From that time 
State emancipation of the slave has ceased. 
Day by day the breach between the South and 
the North has been gradually widening, until 
now it has reached a stage that seriously 
threatens the dissolution of the Union. — From 
this fate it is my solemn conviction that noth- 
ing will save us, but the formation of an A- 
merican party, based on principles so national 
in their character as to enable it to spread it- 
self over and embrace the whole Union. It 
should have but two planks in its platform, 
viz. 

Americans MUST rale America. 
Onr Union must he preserved. 
I believe the first of these is entirely essen- 
tial to' the existence of the last. 

As before remarked, the prescience of Wash- 
ington enabled him to foresee, that the great- 
est dangers that awaited the institutions of the 
people, he sacrificed so much to establish, 
would emanate from two sources, viz. foreign 
influence and sectional divisions. In his last 
address to his countrymen, he dwelt on these 
two points with even beseeching earnestness. 
" Against the Aviles (says he) of foreign influ- 
ence, I conjure you to believe me fellow citi- 
zens, the jealousy of a free people ought to be 
constantly awake, since history and cxjjerience 
prove that foreign influence is one of the most 
baneful foes of republican government." 

Where do we find a parallel for language like 
this in all the various communications and ad- 
dresses of Washington ? On this momentous 
subject big Avith the future fate of America, 



when appealing for the last time to his fellow 
countr)'men, his spirit seemed as it Avere melt- 
ed within him, and breathed forth in Avords 
of affectionate solicitude and parental tender- 
ness. He Avhose word Avas never doubted, 
even stoops to plead like one of little account, 
that he may more forcibly impress on the 
minds of his people the momentous dangers 
he sees in the futm-e aAvaiting them from the 
exercise oi foreign influence. •' I CONJURE 
YOU (says he) to beheve me felloAv citizens." 
Who can resist such an appeal as this ? What 
American can turn a deaf ear to such a Avarning 
from such a source ? 

Scarcely less eloquent is his language Avhen 
interceding with his countrymen to maintain 
inviolable the union of the States. " The uni- 
ty of government (says he) which constitutes 
you one government is also noAv dear to you. 
It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in the ed- 
ifice of j'our real independece ; the support of 
your tranquillity at home ; your peace abroad ; 
of your safety ; of your jn-osperity of that very 
liberty which you so highly prize. But as it 
is easy to foresee, that from difterent causes 
and from diflerent quarters, much pains Avill 
be taken, many artifices employed, to Aveaken 
in your minds the conviction of this truth ; as 
this is the point in your political fortress a- 
gainst Avhich the batteries of internal and exter- 
nal enemies Avill be most constantly and active- 
ly (though often covertly and insidiously) di- 
rected ; it is of infinite moment that )ou should 
properly estimate the IMMENSE VALUE 
of your national union to your collective and 
individual happiness ; that you sbould cherish 
a cordial, habitual and immoveable attachment 
to it ; accustoming yourself to think and to 
speak of it as a palladium of your political 
safety and prosperity ; Avatching for its preser- 
A'atio'n Avith jealous anxiety ; discountenancing 
WHATEVER MAY SUGGEST EVEN A 
SUSPICION that it can in any event be aban- 
doned ; AND INDIGNANTLY FROWN- 
ING UPON THE FIRST DAWNING OF 
EVERY ATTEMPT TO ALIENIATE any 

PORTION OF OUR COUNTRY FROM THE REST, OB 

TO enfeeble tue sacri^d ties avhich now link 

TOGETHER THE VARIOUS PARTS." 

Here is a lecture on the VALUE OF THE 
UNION, fi-om a source Avorth listening to, and 
Avorth hearing too ; one that contains mora 
sound sense, more real virtue, more true pat- 
riotism, than all the lectures that Avere ever 
delivered by Anti and Proslavery dema- 
gogues and fanatics on both sides of Mason 
and Dixon's line. Will Americans indeed re- 
gard such an ajipeal from Washington, or Avill 
they take counsel of traitors, Avho are " cov- 
ertly AND INSIDIOUSLY directing their batte- 
ries against the PALLADIUM of their POLI- 
TICAL SAFETY." 

The operation of either of the causes refer- 



16 



?ecl to, presented itself to the clear, strong 
and deeply experienced mind of Washington, 
as being sufficient of itself to work destruction 
to the country. What then must be our criti- 
cal position now that it is assailed by both at 
once and in their very woi st form ? 

That both temporal and spiritual European 
despots have systematically conspired and lea- 
gued together to overthrow the government 
and institutions of the United States, I think 
that there can be no doubt left in the mind of 
any disinterested man of sense who will prop- 
erly investigate the subject. That hundreds, 
and even thousands of the secret order of 
monks called Jesuits, have been chspatched to 
this country to produce by their " iusidious 
artifices," that result is equally certain. That 
these have jilanted themselves either openly 
or insidiousby (in disguise) in every part of this 
Union is also true ; and that through the Con- 
fessional of the llomish Church these have the 
means of obtaining a more thorough know- 
ledge of the secret springs of action, that ope- 
rate in both political and social life, than any 
other class of men in the States must be felt 
by all thinking men. 

Who then can estimate the immense influ- 
ences such a body of shreM'd, educated, expe- ' 
rienccd and utterly unprincipled and unscru- 
pulous men, may exert for evil on the institu- : 
tions of our country, especially when we con- 
sider that they are regularly organized, and 
thoroughly disciplined, under the positive and 
absolute direction of one head. 

What the men composing the secret " So- 
ciety of Jesus " are capable of accomplishing ; 
what they have attempted ; and what they 
have performed ; let the history of ]uu-ope for 
the last three centuries inform us. When 
last in this country, that friend of Washington 
and of manldnd. La Fayette, on more than 
one occasion seriously warned Americans a- 
gainst the machinations of the Jesuit priests 
of Home; — no man knew them better than 
he. ])uring his smourn here. La Fayette re- 
iterated his warnmg (which has become a 
motto) to Mr. Van Pelt of New York, and ad- 
ded that "the Jesuit Priests were TiiKMdST 
crafty, dan<ferous enimies to civil andreli<j;ious 
liberty. Ttiey Jutve instigated 7nost of the 
tours in Europe." 

Again the same sentiment was substantiall)' 
repeated by I>a Fayette at a diimer jxirty, in 
the ])resence of Mr. Charles l*ahner of llieh- 
mond, Virginia ; " These Romish jtrityls (said 
he) are dangerous men, and xcill destroy the 
liberties of America if they can.'' Lut it is 
tmnecessary to rehearse testimony regarding 
the character of the Jesuits. There is not a 
countrv on earth in wliich tliey have not at 
some time or other j)lanted themselves ; scarce- 
ly one in which they have not sown disseiition 



and civil war ; and hardly one from which, 
they have not been expelled, for their abomi- 
nable crimes. The editor of the La Siecle a 
lloman Catholic paper pubHshed in Paris, thus 
closes some remarks addressed to the Jesuits 
now in France. "Your name (says theLaSiecle) 
is not religion, for religion is peace in the 
State, whilst wherever you set your feet we 
find nothing but cUscord. No poiver, no peo- 
ple, has been able to live loithin the reach of 
your breath, witlutut being poisoned and vom- 
iting you back." 

Such is the character of the men, (as pro- 
claimed by their o^\ti co-religionists) that the 
despots of Europe have foisted in our midst, 
to sow discord among the people and the 
States, and to accomplish the destruction of our 
Union. And will Americans indeed continue 
to slumber when such a foe is actively at work 
among us ? will they disregard the warning 
of Washington ; — of La Fayette ; — and of the 
bitter experience of the world ? 

The thousands of devoted spies which these 
foes of liberty have insinuated into every nook 
and corner, nay into almost every family in 
our land, has enabled them to discover each 
point where our institutions are vulnerable. 
They know too jirecisely their own strength. 
TheV can count it at the polls almost as exact- 
ly before as after an election. They can esti- 
liiate almost to a fraction when and where 
they hold the balance of power between the 
sectional and other tactions that they them- 
selves by craft and artifice know so mcU how 
to " covertly " create. They know the charac- 
ter of the "leading politicians of all parties. 
They know who to ally themselves with. — 
They know that from the circumstance that 
the "democratic party has been almost uniform- 
ly in power in the general government, that 
a" vast number of men attached to that jiarty 
have grown up by profession, office seekers 
and office holders, 'i'hcse are the men for the 
Jesuits. These are the men whose " poverty 
if not their wills" will consent to any comj)!!- 
ances, men to the existence of Mhom the emol- 
uments of office are almost as necessary as is 
the air they breathe. And office and public mo- 
nnj the tempter in the form of a Jesuit IMsh- 
op, will consent that these men shall have on 
condition that a creature and instrument of 
' tlieir own shall be installed Chief l-'xecutivc 
officer and Commander iu chief of the Army 
and Xavy of the United States. The bargain 
to accomplish this result is already struck! 
The Presidential cam])aign is already organized 
and commenced by the Jesuit jjrlesthood and 
their allies, the old line democrats. The for- 
! nier wait l)ut the moment when victory 
j declares for them, to precijjitate the civil war 
upon us, that they have been for years sccrct- 
Iv fomenting. 



1^ 



Would it not be well for the zealous op- 
*pon en ts of negro slavery at the North, to 
cause a moment and examine to what point 
their laliMtrs are tending ? Have these so far 
improved in the least the condition of the 
slave ' Does his manacles hang more loose- 
\j upon him? or is the prospect of his free- 
dom brought nearer to vievr, than it was a 
quarter of a century ago ? On the contra- 
ry, is it not evident that tiie intorference of 
the North, so far, has tended greatly to in- 
crease the hardships of the slave, and to 
•cause his fetters to be more firmly rivetted ? 
Is it not clear that the effect of such ill- 
timed and officious meddling, has been to 
stay the public measures that were in pro- 
gress for the emancipation of the blacks in 
the three great States of Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Kentucky? to palsy the ef- 
forts of the more liberal iind philanthropic 
«:lass of citizens in those States? and to 
wrest pulitical power from their hands, and 
to place it with those of an opposite char- 
Hcter ? to take fower in fact from the friends 
of the slave, and to confirm it in the keep- 
ing of his oppressors? 

When faction runs high in a State, it has 
frequently been the policy of unprincipled 
rulers, to provoke an attack from abroad, 
that the opposing parties may be forced by 
the pres-^nce of a common enemy, to forego 
their internal strife, and unite for defence 
Ugainst the external foe. Thus, has not 
the effect of external interference in the 
question of slavery, been, to unite all par- 
ties at the South, and to compel them to re- 
gard the institution no longer as one of mere 
expediency, but of political right? 

Like the man in the fable, who under the 
mild influence of Phoobus, was gradually 
loosening the folds of his cloak, and prepar 



Did their fathers before them, when men- 
aced by the seried legions of Britain, stop 
to estimate the consequence ? Do wo not 
instinctively feci that as Americans, danger 
and death, even to extermination, can hart 
no terrors for such men, when the freedom 
their ancestors assisted to win, and the 
rights they mutually pledged themselves to 
each other to maintain with their "lives, 
the'n- fortunes, and their sacred honor," are 
believed to be in peril? 

Should we not, then, nicely examine the 
ground on which we stand in relation to our 
brethren of the South, and ascertain to a 
fraction its true position, ere we permit 
ourselves to be seduced into the terrible vor- 
tex of civil strife? 

Let us seriously ask ourselves, who com- 
menced the measures or line of conduct that 
has produced the fearful estrangement of 
the two great divisions of our Union! For 
on him who applies the_^r.<;^ spark, mainly 
rests the responsibility of the subsequent 
conflagration. How came the question of 
negro slavery to be involved with our na- 
tional politics? How came, it to be made a 
political question at alH. Is it necessary 
that it should have eve): bsen so treated ! — 
Or does it follow, because slavery was moBt- 
ly located in the So;athern States, that the 
people of those States should necessarily Sidt- 
vocate or de.sire its extension? When we 
reflect that Virginia, the largest and at that 
time the most populous State in the Union. 
ceded of her own accord ,^most of the crown 
lands embraced within ber charter limits, to 
the general government in trust, to be dispos- 
ed of, and the proceeds divided among the in- 
dividual confederated States pro rata, as 
they had contributed to (he expenses of the 
war, and quietly acquiesced in the provisions 



ing to cast it from him, but which he again of the ordinance of 1787, for its government, 



grasped firmly about him, when the fierce 
blasts of Boreas sought by violence to has- 
ten its fall, so was the institution of slavery 
gradually loosening its hold on the people 
of the South, until the ill-judged interfer- 
ence of the North incited them to fasten it 
anew. 

Is there any thing in the present aspect 
of affairs that leads us to suppose that, the 



it really would not seem that Virginian* 
were at that period very desirous of extend- 
ing the peculiar institution ! When, again, 
the same State, in conjunotion with Mary- 
land, ceded the District of Columbia to the 
national g()vernment without requir'ng any 
guarantee that slavery shoulcJ be retained 
therein, at least so long as it should contin- 
ue to exist in the two Stat-.s fiom which it 



South will back out of the position that was taken, it certainly doea not look as i\ 



they occupy, unless it can be clearly demon 
strated that they stand on unconstitutional 
ground ? Do we believe that fifteen States 
of this Union, and those the largest in terri- 
tory, inhabited bv a high spirited and reso- 
lute race of mei^will stop to calculate their 
physical strength, or the probabilities of the 
event of a conflict with the North, when 
ihey really believe that their honor, and 
their political and social rights are at stake? 



either of these States had any serious ap- 
prehension that tho quesdion of negro sla- 
very was destined to assume a sectional 
character of so rabid a type as to imperii 
the Union ! 

What,, then, let us- ask, has caused it to 
assume this aspect ? Is there anything ic 
the system itself, abstractedly, that lead* 
those who practice it, to wish for itsoxtpo- 
sioa? On the conArary, if assured that kb<? 



qaestion would Tie left undisturbed in the 
national councils of the Union, is it not ap- 
parent that the people of most of the South- 
ern States, would consider that their inter- 
ests would !:« promoted hy its being conSned j 
within a limited territory, rather than in 
its constant extension ? Wore not the cot- I 
ton and rice planters of Sooth Carolina and i 
Georgia aware of the fact, that by trana- | 
planting the iustitutiou on the rich soil of 
the Mississippi, where twice the products 
can be produced with the same amount of 
labor, that their profits at home, would be 
lessened ? 

Virginia, it is true, might have been dis- 
posed to favor its extension, on the ground 
of opening a wider market for its surplus 
slaves ! But can we suppose that the influ- 
ence of that one State, would have been suf- 
ficient to have directed the policy of all of 
the other slave States, especially when we 
consider that most of them are purchasers 
rather th^n selbrs of negro slaves! 

S.ueh a procedure would be tantamount to, 
or vcr;v muci'? t'^c same, as if all the cotton 
oad woo-Ieo ma oufacturers of New England, 
should unite the;r endeavors to extend their 
peculiar business, throughout every North- 
ern and Weotern State, merely besause it 
would open for the makers of the machine- 
ry thev use, and are oblij^'ed to purchase pe- 
riodically, a more extensive market for the 
products of their shops, and thus enable 
them to exact higher prices from" themanu- 
Ikcturers at home! Can we suppose that 
under any ordinary circumstances these 
manufacturers of cotton and wool.^could be 
indueed to adopt so suicidal a course? A 
course that would compel them not only to 
pay a higher price for the machinery they 
themselves use, but by the well-established 
laws of trade, add to tho cost of the raw 
material, at the same time that the price of 
the manufactured article would be lessened ? 
How absurd to suppose that thrifty, shrewd 
men, governed generally, ,<oo generally, by 
their individual interests, should thus act! 
And yet are not the two cases stated very 
much the same in their character and ef- 
fects? Does not the extension of pegro sla- 
very, cause the products of slave labor to 
be lessened in price? Does it not by the 
fixed laws of trade, enhance the cost of the 
labor, and lessen that of its product? And 
are the -slave-selling planters of Virginia, of 
more relative importance, or their influen- 
ces greatsr in comparison with the people of 
all of the .other slave States, than is that of 
the machine makers, when compared with 
all other manufacturers? 

But yet as preposterous as appears the 
Bupposition, that these manufacturers 



should thus unite in laboring to extend' 
system that would so clearly militate against 
their awn interests, has not the time heerf 
in- this country, when they felt themselvee 
constrained to pursue such a course ? Thie' 
i.'- true. And why was it? Simply becauss 
the mautTfacturers saw not only the profits 
of their business in jeopardy, but likewise 
the whole capital they h-ad invested in it? — 
The basis upon which they deemed it rest- 
ed, had become a poUtkal question, and & 
powerful party had arrayed itself in hostili- 
ty to all protective fmiffs. Then it was that 
the lesser interest was forced^ to give place' 
to the greater. When all was in danger, 
the raanufiicturer was willing to sacrifice a 
part, that he might retain the remainder. 
I'hen it was that he sought with all big 
might to induce others at the North, South, 
East and West, to engage in the business of 
manufacturing wool, cotton, iron, and other 
articles, that private interest might stimu- 
late public action, and thus save all engaged 
in the pursuit, from common ruin. 

Well the time came when the fierce po- 
litical contest, in relation to a protective 
tariff was at an end, and with it vanished 
all desire on the part of the manufacturers 
to impart a knowledge of their business to' 
others, or to incite thom to invest capita!' 
in the calling ; and they, one and all, be- 
came as quiet on the subject as " sucking 
doves," and soi'emain. 

In like manner is not the question of ne- 
gro slavery now undergoing a similar pro- 
cess? For many years after the fo^matio^^ 
of this Union, the right to keep negro sylaves 
was no more questioned, than was the right 
to manufacture woolen or cotton cloth. — ■' 
No excitement was caused by the practices 
either socially or politically, either in our' 
National legislature or elsewhere, excepting 
so fiir as it was agitated and acted upon, by 
States in their separate capacity ard in rela-"^ 
tion to its bearings on thcmi^elves; alone,- 
individually ; and it was only ?,'hen the 
people of the Southern section of the ''UnioD' 
became imbued with a belief , that tho institfii'' 
tion of negro slavery was in danger, from' 
an outsi-de pressure, that they began to 
unite politically, fur the defonco of what 
they deemed their constitutional rights. 

As the maimfacturers of the Northern 
States, when menaced by the action of Con- 
gress, sought to create a bond of union, by 
diffusing a common interest as widely as 
possible, sufficiently strong to control the 
national will, for the sake^of preserving 
their cherished institution of manufactur- 
ing, from dsstruction, even at the cost of 
sharing a part of its profits, with the peo- 
ple of other States of tho Union ; so in like 



19 



■jnannev, have the siavehoklers of the Soutli, 
soiij^ht to create a bond of uniou, by the wi- 
der diffusion of negro slavery, sufficiently 
strong to control the action ot the national 
government, for the sake of preserving j!/t'«r 
cherished institution, even at the cost of 
sharing a part of its profits with the people 
of other States of the Union. 

1 know that it will be said that the insti- 
tution of negro shivery is not in danger by 
any action of the^ Northern will. But is 
this material to the issue? Jf the !:^outh 
really believe it is, the effect will be all one, 
•whether it is so or not ; and their action 
■would be the same. 

We, uaany of us, remember during the 
seasons of parJc created by the government's 
interference in the banking and commercial I 
•concerns of the nation, how much was said 
by our great statesmen in Congress, and by 
our most experienced merchants, bankers, 
and financiers, in our public journals, and 
in our streets, about the " timidity"of pro- 
perty, and how we were told that a breath 
of apprehension would disturb its equilib- 
rium, and the bare look of hostility from a 
quarter sufficiently powerful to work it in- 
jury, might of itself bring ruin on whole 
communities! And never was anything 
said more true. 

And do we not also remember, hovr, when 
Webster, Clay, and the host of other great 
men, who at that day, opposed the reck- 
less measures of the honest meaning tyrant, 
who thei^occupied the Presidential chair, 
how the glowing pictures that they drew 
of the ruin and desolation that awaited the 
-commercial, manufacturing, and monetary 
interests of the country, were constantly 
met by the supporters of the administration 
with a flat demal of th^ir truth, and with 
a positive disavowal of any intention on the 
part of the administration, to injure the 
business of individuals in any way ! And 
do we not too well remember what little ef- 
fect their disavowal produced, towards qui- 
eting the apprehensions of the business com- 
munity? And how people need to congre- 
gate in crowds in every city ; how mer- 
chants, and bankers, and manufacturers, 
used to send delegation upon delegation, to 
Washington, to remonstrate with Jackson, 
and to intercede with him to cease from tam- 
pering with the monetary interests of the 
country ? And do we not remember how 
the wihul and courtly old gentleman, used 
to escort these committees to the door af hie 
palace, and how he was wont to observe to 
I hem, as he politely edged them into the 
street, " go home gentlemen and make your 
gelves easy, John Home and I will take 
care of your business." But did this assur- 



ance pacify them 1 Did it in fact save the 
commercial and monetary interests of the 
country from eventual ruin ? We all know 
the desolating events that followed, and 
tliese went to prove very conclusively, that 
experienced poulterers ought tn, and always 
will consider eggs in jeopardy, when they 
perceive jackasses gamboUin'^ amongst hen's 
nests, let tlie tril)ebray ever so loudly about 
their harmless intentions. 

And can we then bla?ne the South for en- 
tertaining apprehensions, that the over- 
throw of the institution of negro slavery not 
only 'n the territories, but in the States of 
this Union, is meditated by a strong political 
party at the North? Are wo not in fact, 
impressed with such a belief ourselves? — 
And do we not feel that this party is daily 
growing stronger and stronger, and that by 
the intemperate acts and publications of the 
individuals composing it, it is fearfully wi- 
dening the sectional breach that so unhup- 
pilj' exists? Have we not good reason to 
suppose that there are at present hundreds, 
yea, thousands, of men at the North who 
really desire to see this gulf widened rather 
than closed, even to the extremity of civil 
war? All must know this to l)e true al- 
though most will probably say that tlie 
South have nothing to fear from the influ- 
ence of such men, and that the prevailing 
sentiment of the North is decidedly op- 
posed to any interference with the instttu- 
tion of slavery, in the States where it al- 
ready exists. But are the people of the 
South in a position to enable them to feel 
sure of this? Men's apprehensions are gen- 
erally more or less quickened, not so much 
by the magnitude of danger, as by the im- 
portance of the interests menaced. Men 
who could behold with composure the fall 
of a distant mountain, might feci their 
minds shaken with alarm at the bare tremb- 
ling of the mole hill, at the base of which 
their families dwell ! 

In the preservation of the institution of 
negro slavery as it now exists, (for the pre- 
sent, at least,) the people of the South feel 
that their all depends. By a forcible dis- 
ruption of the lies that now subsist be-. 
tween master and slave, the former feels, and 
keenly feels^ that not only his property is at 
stake, but the honor and lives of his family. 
Can we then blame the people of the South, 
for over estimating the dangers that menace 
them ? 

The minds of men may in some respects 
be appropriately compared to the waters of 
a lake. Let these be calm and unruffled, 
and every object will be reflected from its 
bosom, in harmony with itself: but let 
theee be agitatod by the wind or other cau- 



sa 



aes, and the fairest objects will present on ; may seemingly demand. Sheltering themselves 
its heaving surface, nothing but frightful 1 »nder Falstafl's broad maxim, ''Jlis/iyvo- 
distortions. So when the minds of men are ' ration, Hal," they thus by long practice in 



calm and composed, objects present them- 
selves to their understanding in their true 
forms ; but let them bo disturbed and agi- 
tated, and the most harmless objects, some- 
times convey to their uuder^3tand!ngs the 
most hideous impressions. 

Thus the constant harping of the aboli- 
tionists of the JSorth, first slightly disturbed 
the equanimity of tlio South. As the influ- 
ence of tiie one increased, so did the alarm 



the same line induce a phase of uiiud, and hab- 
it of thinking, that leads them to examine the 
plainest written instruments, in the same light 
that Jesuit prie.sts examine the Gospel of Christy 
and like these emissaries of Satan, pore over 
the ponderous volumes of the futhers of their 
pi'ofession, not so much v.ith a view to arrive 
at the truth, as for the purpose of obtaining 
precedents to establish wire drawn subtleties to 
meet their dishonest jnu-poses, that go to sub-- 
vert rather than elucidate the meaning of the 



of the other. For the real purpo^^e or under text 
plea of protociing tlieir institutions, the I do not mean these remarks to apply to the 
the South began to adopt a more stringent ' whole profession indiscriminately, for I well 
line of policy and in some instances to pass ! 1"^^'*^' that there are many lawyers whose lives 
and enforce irri ratine and unconstitutional I ^^^ pvactises in point of honor and purity, will 



laws. This cqiuse added numbers to the i 
ranks of the abolition party at the North. 
Mutual recriniinatioii followed. The breeze j 
became a gale. The gale has now swelled 
Into a tempest, under the influence of whic!) 
the mind ot the whole nation seems lashed 



compare favorably with the foremost of the 
earth, but such I believe will bear witness to' 
the truth of my remarks, when applied to far 
too many of the profession. 

It is true, that the study of the debates, that 
transpired in the Convention that framed the 
articles of the Constitution of the United StateSj- 



into fury, and stereotyped with distorted | may aid in arriving at correct opinions in re-- 
views. In the mean time our ship of State gard to their import to a certain extent, if prop- 
lies almost helpless on the billows : with no erly considered, and not too much relied upon ; 
longer a Washington or even a Jackson at | but then unless thoroughly studied andproper- 
the helm, her officers disorganized and dvm]- j ly appreciated, they may misleiid the mind as 



ly contending, her disti-acted crew seduced 
and bewildered by the " insidious wiles'' of 
native demagogues and foreign traitors, 
with, alas, no longer a Clay on board to raise 
his trumpet voice above the tumult of the 
storm, and pipe all hands to duty. What ! 
what ! may it well be asked under such cir- 
cumstances is to save our Union from des- 
truction. 



well as direct it ; and we should remember that 
it was the people of the United States, in their 
primary assemblies, who passed upon and es- 
tablished the Constitution, rt'/vrf vet itsframerff 
and that neither these, por the members of the 
State Conventions, to whom the people delega- 
ted their authority, were probably materially 
guided in their decision, by the debatcsiithat oc- 
curred in the National Convention, liut by their 



own understanding of the tjxt of the instru- 

Any American of ordinary capacity, who will [ mcnt. And who, let me ask, is better calcula- 

direct his attention earnestly to the stxidy of the i ted to aj)preciate the peculiar pliase of thought 

Constitution of the United States, is as compe- i and expression of their ancestors, than the peo- 

tent of cejmprehending its true meaning, as is pic themselves ? 

the most learne<l lawyer, perhaps more so ; for ! The Constitution presumes every primary of- 
the profession of a lawyer, necessarily introdu- ' ficor, whether of the general, or State (Jovern- 
cea him to a line of study, that brings his mind \ ment, to be his own exponent of any di.sputcd 
in contact with authors of former times, whose ; passage in its provisijins, unless it has been de- 



sentiments and principles were generally better 
attuneel to a mouarchial or des})otic order of 
things, than to such a form of government, as 
is instituted in the Constitution of the United 



cidcd upon by the Supreme Court; otlierwise he 
C(ju]d not conscientiously ftilfil his oath of office. 
But when such a. decision is declared, then, in- 
ileed, it becomes obligjitory on each and all of 



States; and s/ro>!</ indeed must be that mind , the^e eifficers, and on every citizen eif the United 
that can avoid receiving an impress from ' States, to conform to the meaning as explained 
circumstances that constantly invest it. Be- ', by that tribunal. 

sides, as the practice of law is conducted at this 'I'he Supreme Court ia ordained and estat- 
day, the eibjcct of too many nienibers of the liar lishcd, by the jieople of the United States, 
beems, not so much to be, the establishment of the sole exponent in the last resort, of all cases 
what is right, as the accomplishment of victory arising in law, or eeiuity, under the Constitu- 
wliethcr the side they advocate, morally sjieak- tion. It follows, that when a decision has l>cen 
ing, be right, or wrong. This leads them to one-e recorded by that Court, involving a Con- 
placo the law as it is called, let it come from stitutional principle, — that such a decision be- 
what source it will, in the place f)f conscience, j comes as binding as is the clause itself, of the 
and to feel justifie<l in torturing it^ plainest j Constitution so explained. It becomes, in fiict, 
words into all manner of meanings, and su))tle a part of the Constitution, whidi every officer 
ties, that the exigencies of their client's case ior legislator of the United States, and of the Sep- 



21 



arate States, from the Prosidcnt, and Cover 
new, downward, solemnly bind themselves by 
their oaths of office to support. 

In regard to coustruhig the meaning of any ar- 
ticle of the Constitntioii, tlie Supreme Court of 
the United States, stands as " Kimj of Kings 
and Lord of Lords.' ^ From its judicial inter- 
pretiition there is no appeal. Like the laws of 
the M&les and Persians, it " changeth not." — 
Right or wrong, there it must stand, the Su- 
preme law of the land, until it is declared null 
and void by tlie suffrages of the whole people of 
the United States, agreeably to the provisions 
set forth in the Constitution itself. So long as 
the judges of the Supreme Court keep their er- 
mine of ofnce pure and unspotted, neither Con- 
gress, nor any other earthly constituted author- 
ity cau legally come between them and tlve dis- 
charge of their official duties. 

The Supreme Coui-t of the United States, 
constitutes the keystone of the arch, on which 
rests the glorious fabric of our Union. Strike 
that from under and irrojiarable confusion, and 
anarchy in every department would quickly 
follow. How essential then, that none but 
the purest, and most able men, should be 
placed on its august bench. And how Prov- 
idential does it seem, that for nearly the half 
of a centiuy, from almost the first of its estab- 
lishment, that so pure a character as John 
Marshall, was peimitted to preside over its 
deliberations, and thus give the sanction of a 
name, to a list of decisions and precedents, cm- 
bracing probably nearly every importtiut ques- 
tion, that can ar.se under the Constitution, 
that stands second to none in the list of earth's 
worthies, whether its bearer bo considered in 
the light of a Jurist or a man. 

There were doubtless many reasons besides 
those I have before alluded to, that operated 
on the minds of the members of the conven- 
tion who framed the Constit\ition, and on 
those of ^he people who ratified it, for their 
not including in its articles any provision for 
the acquu-eraent, and government of territory. 
As has been before stated, one of the greatest 
objections brought against the Union of the 
old thirteen States was the great extent of 
territory, already embraced within their limits. 
There were many advocates for constituting 
two separate nations out of the Confederacy, 
and even three were contended for by some. 

So hard was the task to jDcrform that was 
devolved on tlie convention for framing tlie 
articles of the Constitutioji that it is recorded 
by Marshall in his life of Washington, that at 
several periods, that assembly was upon the 
point of breaking up without accomplishing 
anything. And when its labors wei-e perfect- 
ed, and the Constitution was submitted to the 
people of the respective States for adoption, it 
barely survived the ordeal. " It was adopted 
(says Story) unanimously by Georgia, New 
Jersey aud Delaware. It was supported by 
large majorities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, 
Maryland and South Carolina. It was car- 



ried in the other States by small majorities-, 
and especially rn Massachusetts, New York 
and Virginia, by little more than a prepon- 
derating vote." And we know that it was at 
first rejected altogether by North Carolina 
and Rhode Island. " In oui- endeavors (said 
Wa.shington as recorded by Marshall,) to es- 
tablish a new General government, the con- 
test naturally considered, seems not to have 
been so much for- fflory as for existence. It 
was for a long time doubtful, whether we -were 
to survive as an iiidependent repubhc, or de- 
cline from our federal dignity into insignifi- 
cant !iud witlrered fragments of empire." 

Neither individuals, nor nations of men, 
when struggling for a bare '• existence," arc 
apt to think much about future acquisitions 
or conquests, under any cii'cumstances. Much. 
less then would the framers of the Constitv.tion 
have been liltely to raise the question of addi- 
tional territory in that instrument and thus 
add greater force to the arguments based by 
opposers of the Union, on the ground, that 
the States already existing comprehended too 
much territory, for one Union. Experien- 
ced navigators can not rationally be suppo- 
sed ^ be inclined to stipulate for additional 
freignf, however tempting the inducement of- 
fered may be, at a moment, -when all their 
thoughts and energies, are required to pre- 
serve their ship from sinking tnrough excess 
of cargo aheady on board. 

Just escaped barely with life, from a des- 
perate and protracted struggle with an hercu- 
lean foe, — impoverished, — weak and despond- 
ing, — holding as it were "the cup of trembling 
in their hands," — and struggling for " exist- 
ence," if through the clouds that at that pe- 
riod hung lo-\vering over the future, there was 
a gifted, hopeful indi\'idual in that assembly 
of great men who framed the Constitution, 
wliose prophetic vision enabled him to peer 
beyond the darkness of the hour, and to be- 
hold the blessings that were preparing in the 
hand of Providence soon to be showered up- 
on the infant nation, he and his compeers 
were endeavoring to create, out of thirteen 
feeble and disjointed States ; if I say such an 
improbable event as the future acquisition of 
new territory ever presented itself to the 
mind of one or more of those gifted men, du- 
ring their deliberations, they were probably 
too discreet to give it utterance, but wisely 
considering, " that sufficient for the daj' is 
the evil thereof," postponed its consideration, 
until the necessity should require an amend- 
ment of the Constitution, to meet such an al- 
most inconceivable and hardl)- to be suppos- 
ed reqtiirement. 

The Constitutional convention -was conven- 
ed in Philadelphia, at the same time that the 
Confederated Congress was there sitting, that 
enacted the Ordinance of 1787 for the tempo- 
rary government of the N. West territory. 
There can be but little doubt, that a free in- 
terchange of views and sentiments passed be- 



twcen the 11101111)018 of the two bodies ; aiul 
althoup^li the "compact" which Congress at 
that time assumed to enter into with itself 
in the name of three other distinct parties 
(and one of these not yet in being) could have 
no binding force in law, — still as things then 
were, it is. highly probable that the conven- 
tion thouglit it most wise not to complicate 
the now form of government, by meddling 
with the arrangement, but leave it to be car- 
ried out or not as tlie people of the r^pectivc 
States might decide, as had been the case in 
regard to most other Ordinances, enacted by 
the Congress of the Confederated government, 
especially as any attempt to extend Federal 
jurisdiction over the territories at that mo- 
ment, might place still another weapon than 
the one just hinted at in the hands of the op- 
posers of the Constitutional form of govern- 
ment the convention was aiming to establish. 
At that period thwe were many honest 
and strong minded men in the country who 
put forth all their energies in opposition to 
the proposed form of governmaut, on the 
ground that it would be ajjt to encroach up- 
on the sovereignty of the sejiaratc States, and 
tinally absorb all power. "The advocates of 
this doctrine (says Story) predicted with con- 
fidence, that a government so organize(kf\ould 
soon become corrupt and tyrannical and ab- 
sorb the legislative, executive and judicial 
powers of the several States, and produce 
from their ruins, one consolidated govern- 
ment, which from the nature of things, would 
be an iron-handed despotism. Unitbrm ex- 
perience (it was said) had demonstrated that 
a very extensive territory cannot be governed 
on tlie principles of freedom otherwise than 
a confederacy of republics, possessing all the 
powers of internal government, but unitetl in 
the management of their general and foreign 
concerns ! Indeed any scheme of a general 
government, however guarded, appeared to 
some minds (which possessed the public con- 
fidence) so entirely impracticable, by reason 
of the extensive territory of the United States, 
that they did not hesitate to declare their 
opinion, that it would be destructive to the 
civil liberty of the citizens." 

When we reflect that at that period, at least 
one lialf of the area lying within the bounda- 
ries of the United States, was in the condition 
of disorganized territoiies, it will require no 
effort of the mind to conceive what a potent 
weapon for miscliief, the framcrs of the Con- 
stitution would ]\ave placed in the hands of 
Its op])06ers, by conferring on the General 
government a jr^oAi'/ire jurisdiction over these 
territories, at the f.ame tiine it was invested 
with a discrctw/iary power in regard to ad- 
mitting them into the I^nion as States. There 
can bo scarce a doubt but that such a jno- 
cedurc would have defeated the ratification 
of the Constitution altogether. 

Besides this it was very important that the 
unapproj)riatcd land within tliesc terrilorics, 



should be surrendered by the respective State^ 
within whose chartered limits it lay, to 
the General government, for the purposes 
of revenue to be derived from its gale. 
Virginia, New York, and some other States 
(as before said) had already made large ces- 
sions of the kind, — but there were still vast 
tracts retained by the same, and other States, 
which it was of the utmost consequence to 
the public welfare, should be also conveyed 
to the General government. The extension 
of federal jurisdiction over these territories, 
would most likely have added another serious 
hindrance to their transfer to thoi-e already 
existing ; and thereby caused great inconve- 
nience to the General government, even if 
such a procedure should not altogether defeat 
its establishment. 

Take for instance the case of North Caroli- 
na. This State we know did not ratify the 
Constitution until some time after the 
Constitutional government was organized. — 
Its territory extended from the Atlantic to 
the Mississippi. Thus for a period of twelve 
months after the assembling of the first Con- 
gress, under the Constitution, the " United 
States of America" was divided into tico dis- 
tinct parts ; South Caroh'na and Georgia be- 
ing separated from the remainder of the States, 
by a strip of land of an average width of more 
than an hundred miles, including North 
Carolina, and the territory then belonging 
thereto, now comprehended in the State of 
Tennessee. 

This territory had not as yet been conveyed 
by North Carolina to the General govern- 
ment, nor was it until the early part of 1790, 
when it was ceded to the United States for 
the'same purposes, and on nearly the same 
conditions, as was that lying to the north 
west of the Ohio by Virginia, with howev- 
er the striking excej)tion that instead of ex- 
cluding slavery from the said territory as it 
was enacted in the Ordinance q§ '87, the 
territory parted with by North Carolina is ce- 
ded on the express condtlon, "That no regu- 
lation made or to be made (therein) by Con- 
gress, shall tend to emaricipiiic slaves." And 
it is farther stipulated in the articles of ces- 
sion " that the laws in force and use in the 
State of North Carolina, at the time of pass- 
ing this act, shall be, and continue in full 
force in the territory hereby ceded, until the 
same shall be repealed, or otherwise altered by 
the leijislativc authority of said territory." 

Here it is made manifest that North Caro- 
lina, which has ever stood pie- eminent as a 
pattern rei)ublican State, was so jealoiis of the 
authority, or the usurpations of the Tedcral 
government, — notwithstanding the Constitu- 
tion confei's on it no civil jurisdiction over 
the people of the territories; that in making 
the cession it is not only stipulated that the 
law making power shall reside and be con- 
tinued in the hands of the jieaplc of the (-ed- 
cd territory, but that the general government 



23 



in the exercise of tlieir constitutional right to 
make " needful regulations " for the disposal 
of territory, shall make "no regulation" that 
''shall tend to emancipate slaves," 

But it is unnecesary, it is even unsafe, to 
attempt to pry too closely into the motives 
that induced the framers af the Constitution, 
or the people who ratified it, to withhold from 
Congress the law making power over the peo- 
ple in the territories of the United States. 
It is enough that nothing in the plain mean- 
ing common sense constr\iction of its text 
conveys any such power ; a power that if in- 
tended to ba conveyed at alV was certainly of 
sufficient importance, to be definitely express- 
ed and not left to be inferred by dubious im- 
plication. 

To assert that the power is inherent in the 
General government, as aright of sovereignty 
in common with other nations of the earth, 
strikes at the very foundation of the princi- 
ples, upon which our Union stands. For the 
management of its internal concerns, at least, 
the Federal government can claim no author- 
ity for its public acts from any precedent or 
source whatever, save from what is conferred 
in the Constitution of the United States, much 
less from the practices of the arbitrary and 
despotic kingdoms of the earth ; the theory 
of whose government, instead of being based 
on the " inalienable rights " of the people, 
are mostly derived from the Devil and Priest- 
inculcated doctrine of the " divine right of 
kings." 

If we seek for the primary cause, the first 
false political step that has opened a door for 
the entrance of our present difReulties and 
dangers, we may probably find it in the ao- 
quis'ition of the Territory of Louisiana, pur- 
chased of France in 1803. 

I do not mean to be understood to say that 
our troubles have necessarily grown out of 
the acquisition of the territory itself, but that 
they have been greatly promoted by the mode 
of accomplishing it. Before making that 
purchase the Constitution of the United States 
.should have been amended to meet the requi- 
sition. ']'he question of slavery in the territo- 
ries would most probably then have been 
brought before the people of the United States 
and settled on a Constitutional basis. 

This is the cotu-se that should have been 
adopted, and this is the course that would 
have been pursued, had Thomas Jefferson, 
who then filled the Presidential chair, inherited 
the firmness of either of his predecessors in 
office. Had Jefferson adhered to his own 
convictions of duty, his signature would never 
have been affixed to the treaty by which Lou- 
isiana was acquired, until a ne^vv clause had 
been inserted in the Constitution authorizing 
such an act, and ratified by the peoj)le. But 
slas ! although seeing, knowing, and avowing 
the rigid, that responsible pubUc ofiicer, was 



nevertheless weak enough to suffer his mind 
to be swayed from its better judgment and 
adopt the wrong. He signed the treaty, pro- 
testing agamst its constitutionality almost at 
the same moment. The oath ' that great 
statesman had taken to support the Constitu- 
tion of tlie United States was disregarded, 
principle was deferred to expediency, the 
constitution was trampled under foot by the 
highest officer of the nation, and we are now 
reaping the penalty of the transgression in a* 
many threatening forms of e\'il as was ever 
poured from Pandora's box on any unfortu- 
nate people. False to his duty, his consciencv 
and his oath, if Tliomas Jefferson could be 
permitted again to be here and behold the 
consequences that have accrued to his countn 
from Uiat one rash act, well might he exclaim 
with Cranmer, "that unworthy hand," and 
with the martyr lament that it too, ha^d no* 
perished in the flames, ere it had affixed hi* 
name to the fatal document. 

One fiilsc step naturally produces another 
and so on to the end of the chapter. Outai' 
this territory so acquired the State of liOuis- 
iana was carved and admitted into the Unioa 
in 1811. Ten years more had not passed 
when tlie new State of Missouri created out 
of a part of the same territory, came knocking 
at the doors of Congress for admis,«ion into 
the Union on the same condition as -the State 
of Louisiana had been admitted ; vi?. simpl) 
to support in all respects the Constitution 6i' 
the United States. 

But the boundaries of Missouri encroached 
upon the latitude of the North West territory, 
and it was thought expedient by northern 
members of Congress that slavery should be 
excluded from the new State. Many of us 
well remember how flie Union was shaken as 
with an earthquake in the disposal of that 
question. Tlie new State was finally admitted 
with all the sovreign rights enjoyed by other 
States of the Union. But at the same timt- 
by what is called the '-Missouri Compromise" 
Congress unwisely attempted to substitute an 
act of its own, to fill a constitutional require- 
ment, and to enact that Slavery should hence; 
forth be excluded from all territories of the 
United Stitcs lying north of latitude 36 dcg. 
30 min. 

We have seen how that the last Co)igre8« 
under the Confederation, had included in the 
ordinance of 1787 afiction called a compact, by 
which slavery was to be foreVer excluded from 
the new States that were to be created out <rf 
the north west territory, and that this ordi- 
nance including the fictitious compact, had 
bebn re-enacted by the first Congress that as- 
sembled under the Constitution. Up to the 
time of the "Missouri Compromise,"' no at- 
tempt I believe from any quarter had over 



M 



been made to disturb the conditions of this | 
compact ; neither was there ever any to dis- 
turb the conditions imposed on Congress by 
the treaty or compact which that body ,subse- 
quently entered into with North Carolina, that 
slavery should not he excluded or interfered 
with by any act or regulation of Congress 
within the limits of the. territory ceded to the 
United States out of which the State of Ten- 
nessee has since been formed. Neither have 
we any good reason to suppose that any at- 
tempt ever would have been made to disturb 
the conditions of the Missouri Compromise, 
•were it not that circumstances that I have be- 
fore alluded to, have caused the question of 
aegro slavery to assnmc a poUtical aspect of 
paramount importance, in the \'iew of the peo- 
ple of the slave holding States. 

However ill-founded may be their suspi- 
eions, there can be no question that the people 
of the slave holding states really believe that 
there exists at the North a large and increas- 
ing part}-, whose hostility to the institution of 
negro slavery ia not intended to stop at the 
boundaries of the territories belonging to the 
Union, but that ultimately it contemplates in- 
. vading the sovreignties of the respective States. 
In this as])ect of things, the people of the 
slave holding States believe that the only 
means they have of securing their constitu- 
tional rights from invasion, is by maintaining 
an equality of representation with the non- 
alave holding States, in one branch of Congress 
at least. 

Hence when in addition to the constantly 
increasing anti-slavery feeling at the North, 
the South could not be blind to the fact that 
the population of that section of tlie Union 
was also increasing in a vastly greater ratio 
than was that of their own ; and again, that a 
large proportion of the territories of the 
United States that must soon be apportioned 
and received as States into the Union lie on 
the side of the ])arallel of 36 deg. 30 min 
from which slavery was to be excluded by -■ 
law of Congress, it is highly probable that 
when southern statesmen contemplated these 
&cts, that they were led to re-examine the 
♦character of the Missouri Compromise with 
the view of agitating its repeal. I know not 
however that there is any evidence of suHicient 
force to substantiate this point, or to prove 
that the bill introduced by Douiflass to this 
effect, emanated from Southern (objective) in- 
fluences. For one, 1 have always lelt con- 
vinced, that from whatever (juarter the meas- 
ure may have ostensil)ly originated, it was in 
reality brought about by the "insiduous wiles" 
of crafty Jesuits of foreign liirth and allegiance, 
and was one of a scries of "artifices" "covert- 
ly" concocted by that freedom hating frater- 
nity at nearly the same period, having for 



their object the distraction and diMsion of the 
great American party, which had so suddenly 
arisen, and stood like a giant in the wa) 
of the "batteries" which the Komish Hier- 
archy has for some years past been "constantly 
and actively, though coveiily and^ iiisiiluously'" 
directing against the "palladium of our politi- 
cal safety and prosperity" and tvhich American 
party these deadliest foes of our country felt it 
a necess'ty to divide into sections and factions 
before ihey could succeed in their grand de- 
sign of "alienating one jiortion of our country 
from the rest" and so "enfeeble the sacred 
ties that now bind together the various parts" 
as to enable them to involve the two 
sections of the Union in civil war and finally 
in irretrievable ruin. With this object in 
view, I have but little doubt that a hird of the 
air was mT/sttriously commissioned to whisjicr 
into the ear of ] )ouglass that it required but a 
union of the slave holders and the Komish 
Hierarchy to elect at any time a President of 
the United States, and with the same delphic 
voice insinuate to the ambitious demagogue 
how he himself might secure the tempting 
prize. 

The correctness of this view subsequent 
events has seemed to confirm — esjiecially the 
laudation and panygeric that has been heaped 
upon his J e&uit friends, since the })assage of 
the Nebraska bill, by Douglass in some of his 
public addresses. 

But some of our American demagogues it 
would seem have yet to learn the fact, that in 
no contingency whatever, is it possible that 
a brother of "the Society of Jesus," can ap- 
])roach or deal with one not of their corpora- 
tion in good faith. 

Should the present occupant of the Presi- 
dential chair remain doci'e in the keeping of 
the Jesuit "power behind their winking Ma- 
donna" and continue to truckle to the will of 
those ecclesiastical directors of his conscience, 
as submissively, as he hiis heretofore done, it 
is highly probable that such representations of 
his iidelity will be forwarded to the General of 
the Jesuit College at Home as will insure his 
being selected in that high quarter as the can- 
didate of the Church for the Presidency of 
the United States, notwithstiinding any in- 
tangible assurances that Douglass may fancy 
he has received from tlic same source. Should 
this be the case the nomination of Franklin 
Pierce will most assuredly be endorsed by 
the Democratic party, for the reason that the 
leaders of that party are at ])resent irretriev- 
alily committed to the domination of their 
Jesuit colleagues, and must so remain to se- 
cure the co-operation of the Komish Hier- 
archy in the next election, on which they 
know full well that their only chance of suo- 
0-*s8 depends, 



26 



Again, should the American ]iarty continue 
to permit its deadliest foes to direct its meas- 
ures and distract its councils, its soutlicrn 
wing, through the pressure of the more im- 
mediate danger that seems to threaten the 
domestic institutions of the South, Avill in all 
probability-, be driven to cast its vote ■with the 
democrats for the Jesuit's candidate. The 
consolidated vote of the fifteeu slaveholding 
States, joined to that of the States at the 
North and West, in which the votes of the 
slaves of the Roman Hierarchy can be used 
to turn the scale will elect a President. 

Then when that important station is occupied 
by an automaton, that is completely enshroud- 
ed in a mystical net of .Jesuit wearing, we 
may look out for the commencement in ear- 
nest of the shedding of blood in ci\il strife, 
but not before, with their consent — mark my 
M'ord ; for these accomplished conspirators 
and assassins, the Jesuits, know full well the 
importance of first making themselves entire 
masters of the Commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the United States, to the thor- 
ough fulfilment of their plans. 

If I am net much mistaken, the event will 
prove that although the Jesuit (Conspirators 
will make use of the slave holding States as 
stepping stones to power, they will, neverthe- 
less not even accord to them the ])oor Cijclo- 
pcan privilege of being the last ^ictim de- 
voured. On the contrary, their aim will ])rob- 
ably be to promote the utter ruin of the 
southern portion of the Union first, and then 
through the tens of thousands of ways that 
through the confessional they can reach the 
domestic hearth of families, and by means of 
the public press, a great proportion of which 
Is already corru]>ted and Avorking in their 
harness, 'they will create innumerable foctipns 
at the North", through the excesses of which, 
and the innumerable outrages and assasinations 
that they themselves vc\\\ cause to be commit- 
tedl by their secret tools, a "reign of terror' j 
will be established, and in the prophetic, warn- 
Ino- language of Washington, as expressed in 
his ferewell address already repeatedly quoted 
from by "the alternate domination of one fac- 
tion over another, sharpened by the spirit of 
revenge, natural to party dissentions, which in 
different ages and countries has perjjctratcd 
the most horrid enormities," and by "the dis- 
orders and miseries that result, gradually in- 
cline the minds of men to seek security and 
repose in the absolute power of an individual," 
and "sooner or later" thus enable "the chief 
of some prevailmg faction (the Komish most 
probably) more able or more fortunate than 
his competitors," to "turn this dispositionto 
the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins 
of public liberty" and by a coup^ d'etat such 
;V5 under the direction of the Jesuit priesthood 



elevated J.ouis Napoleon to the throne of 
France, ]3lacc a crown on the head of a Jesuit 
directed Emperor of North America, and thus 
not only sUunp the farewell warning of Wash- 
ington with the impress of inspiration, — ^but 
also verify the clearly exprersed prediction of 
his most cherished friend, Lafayette, so 
often repeated and so earnestly dwelt upon 
by him when conversing Anth Americans, " II' 
•rilE LIBERTIKS OF AMliJilCA AUE EVER DE- 
STIIOYED IT WUX BE BY ROMISH PRIESTS !" 
I am well aware that raany_ readers will 
treat these ill expressed forebodings, as little 
better than the ravings of a maniac, but nev- 
ertheless I am constrained to place them on 
record, from a conviction that long and 
earnest study and observation, has impressed 
on my mind, that, as improbable as it niay 
seem to most readers, something very similar 
to what is ])rognosticated will be the fate of 
our country u^;i.ESS, not only a majority, but 
a LARGE majority of Native' Americans, both 
North and South will consent to forego their 
senseless and fruitless animosity on the sub- 
ject of slavery and unite in the cause of their 
comm.on country and of mankind, and firmly 
resolve that neither the "batteries nor macli- 
inations of either internal or external enemies, 
however cavertly and insiduously directed," 
shall prevail with their consent to " alienate 
any portion of our country from the rest, or 
enfeeble the sacred tics that now bind together 
the various parts." 

jMore jjarticularly would I plead with my 
fellow citizens of liiy native State, that they 
should one and all arise as one man, and with- 
hold from mischief as in a grip of iron, the trai- 
tors, demagogues, fluiatics and misguided men, 
who are laboring to infuse into our minds the 
spirit of discord, and under the color of freeing 
a portion of the people of this Union from an 
unfortunate bondage, that we all lament, but 
wliich we cannot constitutionally prevent, are 
urging us to the adoption of violent and un- 
christian measm-es that can scarcely fail in the 
end if persevered in, 1o subject us all to a 
bondage even more galling to the spirits of 
American freeman tha'n is that of negro slave- 
ry to the African race. Let us refiect that 
the very houses in which some of us reside 
were reared by our forefathers Math the price 
of iVfrica's children torn ruthlessly from their 
country and thcii' homes, and that if the roof 
trees of some of these were gifted with a 
tongue to speak they "could a t;ile unfold" of 
murders and outrages enacted on our fellow 
men "whose lightest word would harrow up 
the soul" and pah the foulest wrongs that are 
now inflicted on the hapless race in any State 
of this Union. 

" If yc seek to shake off your allegiance U> 
Rome, ye Germans ! (and why not ye Araerir 



26 



cans, as well?) we will briko things to 
SUCH A PASS, that ye shall unsheath the sword 
of extenmnatlon against each other, and per- 
ish in your own blood! " The Pope's Nun- 
cio to the Germans. — D\fluhigne. 

Whether the South is, or is not responsi- 
ble for the origen of the Nebraska and Kan- 
sas bill, it is certain that it could not have been 
caused without the aid of Northern votes, 
and on these should the responsibility of its 
passage rest ; for how can we reasonably ex- 
pect that Southern members should vote 
against a bill that affirmed a constitutional 
dogma, that they had always contended for, 
when it was introduced into Congress by a 
Northern man, and sustained by Northern 
votes. 

There were probably as many Northern 
members of Congress who voted for the pas- 
sage of the Nebraska bill as there were Avho 
voted for the Missouri compromise. Both 
bills were mainly carried by Southern votes ; 
with members of that section one was regard- 
ed as a question of expediency, the other of 
principle. Ha^•ing asserted this principle in 
the j)assage of the Nebraska bill the South 
seemed content, and disposed to permit things 
to take their natural course. Had the North 
prudently adhered to the same line of conduct, 
all might jet have been well. In that case 
emigration to Kanzas, like true "charity," 
would not have been " strained." A com- 
munity would have there established them- 
selves, unquestionably mostly from the North- 
ern states, and quickly formed themselves into 
a body ])olitic, as did the little communities 
that first emigrated to this country from Eu- 
rope. Like these, too, if left undisturbed by 
the general government, they Avould have in- 
stituted all laws and regulations necessary and 
proper for the government of their infant 
State. Over these neither the respective 
State Governments, nor the Federal Gov- 
ernment ought to exercise any control, so 
long as they did not hinder the latter in " dis- 
posing" of the territor)-, or land, (as the 
term was formerly used to imply) belonging 
to the United States, nor trespass on the 
same. 

There is nothing in the Constitution of the 
United States, that goes to prohibit any class 
of persons, whatever, from purchasing land of 
the Government. AVhen once put in market, 
this is open to all who have money to buy 
•with, whether Cln-istian or Jew, — whether 
Turk or I'agan, slaveholder or non-slave- 
holder. When a jjurchaser ])resents himself 
at the land office, he is not to be queried with 
whether he has one wife, or foul-, whether he 
intends to imj)rove his new domain with slaves, 
or free labor, whether he worships God, or 
Mammon ; — but simj>ly whetluT he has the 



money to buy with. The disposal of all other 
qnestions is left with the settlers themselves : 
and whatever a majority of these ordain in 
respect to any of those things^ the minority 
must acquiesce in. 

Such were the germs of the thirteen little 
colonial governments, that eventually expand- 
ed into states, and out of wh'eh oiu- Union 
was formed ; — and it is precisely such states 
as these, that the Constitution contemplates 
shall be added to this Union ; states in which 
the people themselves, " Do okd-ALX and es- 
TAiiLiSH " their own laws. That is the great 
principle that Americans contended for in the 
war of the revolution, and that is the great 
principle that is most prominently set forth in 
the preamble of the Constitution, and recog- 
nized in every sentence that follows it. 

• Whatever person establishes himself on 
territory or land purchased of the United 
States, must depend solely on the laws he 
finds there already w>ititutcd, or which he 
may himself, assist in ordai)ii)ig after his ar- 
rival, for the protection of all goods, chattels, 
and things he may claim as his own, whether 
these be houses or merchandise, men, or ani- 
mals. For on the broad and distinct princi- 
ple, which the Declaration of our Independ- 
ence emphatically puts forth, and whicli is 
recognized in the preamble to the Constitu- 
tion, it is the inalienable right of the people 
to institute tlieir owai government, " in such 
form as to them shall seem most likely to ef- 
fect their sai'cty and happiness." 

Over the people of these territories, the 
United States has no constitutional right to 
exercise any jurisdiction whatever, neither has 
it anv right to require of them the surrender 
of fugitives from justice, or from service,^ 
except by especial treaty, as in the case of 
foreign nations. As before said, it is only 
where the ])eople of the territory apply to be 
admitted into the Union as a State, and are 
received, that the laws of the United States 
can be legally extended over them. 

Neither is the General Government author- 
ised to comjiel the people of a territory to 
apply for admission as a State. The Consti- 
tution says that Congress niaij admit new 
states, it does not say that it ului/l. J5y jjarity 
of reasoning then, a State ituiij apjily for ad- 
mission, but nothing in the Constitution either 
asserts or imjilies that it aliall. The idea -of 
coercion is alike foreign to the fundamental 
j pnnci])les on which the govermnent of the 
I United States is founded, and to the views en- 
tert;iined on the subject by the framcrs of the 
Constitution and of our forefathers. 

As no coercion to induce states formed out 
of the territory of the United States is con- 
templated in the Constitution, so neither is it 
needed. Whoever will study minutely the 



2' 



progress of events in this favored land, can- 
not fail to perceive that they have ever been 
controlled, and guided in one direction, doubt- 
less for some good purpose, by the spirit of un- 
erring wisdom. The great wave of emigra- 
tion that sets to our shores, bearing on its bo- 
som the crudities of Europe, finds its level 
befo.e it reaches the territories. The hardy 
pioneers of the wilderness, are ever of the 
Yankee breed, with whom the formation of 
a government based on tha ])rinciples of the 
Stars and Stripes is an insurmountable in- 
stinct of nature. Drop a dozen of such men 
in the midst of a howling wilderness, and they 
will scarcely feel themselves on their feet, be- 
fore we shall find them assembled in town 
meeting, and engaged in digesting a plan of 
government. And who does not know, that 
such men are better qualified to institute a 
practical form of government, based upon 
the " inahenable rights of man," not only 
for the government of a score of individuals, 
but of as many millions, than are all the 
learned savans of Europe. To attempt to 
force a state so formed, into the Union, would 
be like attempting to drive by violence a man 
into his own house, or to attempt to exclude 
it would be tantamount to compelling him 
against his will, to stay outside of his own 
door. In either case he would be sure to 
rebel. 

The attempt by Northern men, to prema- 
turely force into Kansas a body of emigrants 
for the purpose of carrying into effect a " fore- 
gone political conclusion," is factious in its 
character, and utterly at variance with the 
sentiments of compromise, and conciliation, 
that held sw^ay in the breasts of Washington 
and the other great men who with him framed 
the articles of the Constitution. Whilst no 
explanation or apology , whatever can atone 
for the atrocious invasion of that territory by 
the border ruffians of the State of Missouri, 
it is too evident that such an event is but a 
legitimate consequeuce of the course pursued 
by the class of men at the North referred to, 
who seem gifted by nature with " all rnanner 
of sense except common sense." A glance at 
almost any Northern journal, will reveal to us 
the fact, that the conductors of the " Emi- 
grant Aid Society " in all their movements, 
seem' to have regarded the slave-holding 
States, in the light of a letha* gic monster, on 
whose very back they might heaj) coals of 
fire with impunity. Neither did the peo])le 
of the South manifest much disposition to op- 
pose the Northern movement alluded to, un- 
til they had been goaded to madness, by a 
constant, ever flowing stream of abuse, poured 
upon tiieir heads by the Northern press and 
by the reiterated boasts that were made in its 
Y.idely circulated columns, that the plans of 



the North in regard to excluding slavery from 
Kansas would certainly succeed, in spite of 
all that could be done by the South to pre- 
vent it. Thus insulted, taunted and as it were 
spit upon, the " letliar<j;ic monster " at length 
aroused itself, and proved to these Northern 
factionists, that their game was one that txvo 
could play it. 

And where are we now? Each party is 
fiiiily on its feet, and mustering its forces, to 
decide the question in the battle-field : while 
a weak and inefficient President of the Na- 
tion, whose duty it was, and still is, to nip the 
threatened collision iu its bud, Ijy shielding as 
he^s constitutionally bound to do, the people 
of Kansas from the Missouri and other hos- 
tile invasions, lies bound in myMcrious chains, 
unable or unwilling to lift his hand or his 
voice, to stay the doir^s of wur, that such 
Jesuit and JwuiTESS directed traitors as 
Greeleij are straining every nerve to congre- 
gate in martial arraj', and to jjrecipitate on 
Kansas with the avowed object of drenching 
its soil \vith American blood. 

It is such traitors as this same Horace 
Greeley, and their Jesuit colleagues, and direc- 
tors, that the American party should watch 
with unslumliering eyes, and make to feel that 
theii will be held responsible for every drop of 
blood that may flow in the a])])roaching com- 
bat they are laboring to excite between the 
North and the South. (Let, but the Jesuit 
prieethood of Home, and their tools, be as- 
sured, of this, and there null be no civil war.') 
Step by step the measures hav^ been agitated, 
conducted, and perfected, by these emissa- 
ries of Satan, that have led (and designedly 
led) to the " necessity " that they now tell 
us exists, for the North to rise in mass, and 
defend the riglits of the people of Kansas by 
force of arras. 

Well, if such a necessity really does exist, 
why do not these Jesuits, "Editors, and dema- 
gogues, these Ilugkc^!, Greelejs, and Sewards, 
who so clearly apjjreciate the necesviti/, form 
themselves at once into a legion, and under 
the banner of their snlplntric master, rush to 
the rescue ? Why all this delay ? Is their 
blood purer than that of other men ? Arc 
their lives rnore dear to them, or more valua- 
ble to the nation? On the contrary, in my 
ojnnion, there is no class in the community 
whose absence would cause so little incmive- 
nience ! Let the traitorous band then be or- 
ganised at once and march to Kansas! Let 
the two rabid hosts of Anti and I'ro-slavery 
men who are now mutually urging the nation 
to war, there decide the great questien of free- 
dom or slavery on the battle field, between 
themselves, and if the " necessity " requires 
no more blood to fiow than what courses 
diroujrh their traitorous veins, I think that 



2S 



the nation ut large will have but little cause to 
mourn. 

If, as I have before asserted, the Federal 
government cannot, constitutionally exercise 
any civil jurisdiction over the people of the 
territories, then neither the act of Congress 
approved Feb. 12, 1793, entitled "an aci rc- 
spedivg fugitives from justice, and persons 
escaping from the service of their viaste7-s," 
nor the act of Congress approved Sept. 18, 
1850 supplemental thereto, can be constitu- 
tionally carried into effect ■within the limits of 
any of the said territories of the United States. 
Niether can the people of the territories 'Jivail 
themselves of its jDrovisions to recover fugi- 
tives fi-oni service, when tlicse have taken 
refuge in any of the States of the Union. — 
The only remedy in both cases is bj" special 
treaty. 

In fact, I cannot conceive how it is possible 
to reconcile either of these public acts with 
the Constitution ofthe United States, although 
1 grant that their practical operation may be 
the same so for as regards the States, as that 
contemplated in that instrument. 

The section of the Constitution which com- 
pels the surrender of fugitive slaves, partakes 
of the character of a compact, in which each 
res]}ective State stipulates to surrender on 
certilin conditions fugitives from justice and 
also fugiti\es from service : upon demand in 
the first instance, of the "Executive authori- 
ty ofthe .S'ta^e," from whence the fugitive has 
fled, and in the other, upon " claim of the 
j.'arty to ^\hom such service or labor may be 
due." And it would seem plain to an ordina- 
ry undcrstimding, that the general Goveni- 
ment can have no Constitutional right to in- 
terfere in one of these cases more than in the 
other, until a State shall refuse to comply 
with the "demand" or "claim" as the case 
may be. Then it is true, but not until then, 
the federal government may rightfully inter- 
pose its authority, and compel such dehnquent 
State to obey a provision of the Constitution 
which its every ofKcer and legislator has 
sworn to sujjport. 

All thinking men must admit, I believe, 
that the "fugitive slave act" (so called) has 
no practical effect for good. For one, from 
its ]mssage, I have felt convinced that it could 
new;r to any great extent be enfoVced in the 
nonhern States. However constitutional may 
be its jirovlsious, there is something, not only 
in the northern mind, but in the minds of in- 
telligent men generally, that will forever war 
with some of its requirements however just 
may l)e its oljccts. 

God has implanted in the breast of every 
human being an instinct or a ])rinciplc, that 
ever dis])oses a man who is a man to take the 
])art c)f a fellow creature who ajipe.ds to liim 



for protection. And preserve me, I say, from 
coming in contact with that man in whose 
bosom this principle is dead. He is a brute, 
yea, lower than a brute, for even brutes ac- 
knowledge it. 

I would not under some circumstances, aid 
even the owner of a noble brute in recovering 
his property. Nay more, I believe that most 
men would at times find it diflficult to resist 
even the mute appeals of the meanest brutes. 
Whilst engaged in warm pursuit of the very 
vermin of the field, when I have beheld a poor 
creature, after exhausting every other resource 
that seemed to offer a chance of escape from 
the pursuing dogs, at length, with quivering 
eye, and jianting heart, and trembling limb, 
turn to me for protection, I have respected 
the instinct that prompted the appeal, and let 
tKe httle plunderer hve. 

Whilst I would not meanly attem])t to shel- 
ter myself under the protection of law, as a 
shield from the consequences of its violation, 
I confess that no human law could compel me 
to aid in arresting and returning to ser\'itude, 
a fellow creatiu'e against whom no ofience 
was alleged save a desire of liberty. The law 
may be satisfied by willingly imdergoing its 
penalty, as fully as by compliance. In such a 
case I should choose the former. I would not 
rebel, I would consent to suffer. Eoth the 
law, and my owa conscience would then be 
satisfied, and the pubHc peace would not be 
disturbed. 

I do not believe that there is one inteUi- 
gcnt slaveholder in ten throughout the whole 
southern Strifes, who would (unless officially) 
personally aid in returning a fugitive slave to 
his master, against the slave's consent. 1 
know that Henry Clay, the originator of the 
"Fugitive Slave Act" would not, for he as- 
sured me so himself, whilst that act was pend- 
ing in Congress. 

I believe that Henrj- Clay was as great a 
statesman and as true a patriot, as ever drew 
breath in America. I believe that under the 
trying circmnstances, he honestly believed that 
the "Fugitive Slave Act" was the best practi- 
cal nu^asure that Congress could adopt to al- 
lay the agitation then existing. But if even 
the originator — the father (as it were) of the 
law could not himself comply with some of 
its provisions, how is it to be ex])ected that 
other men can ? The thing is impossible ; 
tiie people of the South should spare us in 
thui. 

There is a beautiful idea embodied in the 
sentence the Athenians passed upon the man 
who hat! taken the life of a dove that had 
flown to him for protection, when i)ursucd by 
a hawk. "I.ot him be jnit to death" said that 
capricious, but discerning peoj)le, "for the 
man who is capable of committing such an act 



2') 



cannot possibly be a good citizen of the State." 

Even so I say, that the man who can deHb- 
erately betray to his pursuers a ])oor wretch 
fleeing not from the penalty due to crime, but 
from servitude merely, under the promjnings 
of that love of liberty that is implanted in tlic 
nature of every creature that breathes, cannot 
possibly be a good citizen of the State. Such 
an act is strictly forbidden, even in the code 
of laws, the first instituted on record, and 
which was estabhshed and ordained for the 
guidance and government of a jftople who 
were but just emerging from a state of bar- 
i)arism. " Thou shalt not deliver unto his 
master the servant which is escaped from his 
master unto thee." — Deut. 23c : 15v. 

For one, I should rejoice to see a law en- 
acted by Congress, appropriating an unlimited 
amoimt of money, yea to the amount of hund- 
reds of milhons if necessary, for the purpose 
of reimbursing to a certain extent the owners 
of fugitive slaves. K upon satisfactory evi- 
dence of ownership, two-thirds of the real 
value of such fugitives were to be paid to the 
claimant out of the United States treasury, and 
the slave then be allowed to go free, thousands 
of fugitives from sen'itude would be reclaimed 
where there is now one. Every honest man 
at the North, would then be willing to assist 
the people of the South in recovering their 
property ; and thus the pecuniary uiterests of 
that section of the Union would be greatly 
promoted by the same law that would promote 
the peace of the »'hole country. 

An institution like negro slavery, that has 
for centuries been interweaving its fibers deep 
into the heart of our social and poHtlcal fab- 
ric, is not to be uprooted in a day. Neither 
can it be abolished by convulsive action, with- 
out danger of entailing far greater evils than 
would be removed. The people of the North 
understand but little of the relations that exist 
between master and slave. They arc illy qual- 
ified to act on the subject. The management 
of the whole question should be left with the 
people where it exists, and with whom the 
Constitution of the United States lias left it. 

If the N8rth would in good faith, honestly 
abstain from interfering in the matter, a new- 
order of things would quickly be exhibited at 
the South. PubHc sentiment there, would 
then soon again assume a healthy aspect, and 
no longer be lumaturally excited and irritated 
into blindness. Thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of men, would then and there start up 
as advocates for negro freedom, whom circum- 
stances now oblige to remain silent or who 
feel compelled to join in pro slavery measures 
as a means of protection against the ill-judged 
and impertinent action of the North. Then 
a period might quickly approach, when the 
aid of the general government could harmo- 



niously and beneficially be exerted, to favot' 
the gradual extinction of the system, by aiding 
States and individuuls to colonize with their 
own consent, colored persons already free, or 
who may become so, in Afric i. I know that 
this was the plan looked forward to by Mr< 
Clay, who never expected more of the "fugi- 
tive slave act" than that it shoidd allay public 
excitement for a season, and until more radi- 
cal action could be taken Ijy Congress on the 
subject. This was the jilan v.'hich lay nearest 
the heart of that great statesman, as a means 
of assisting to remove slavery from the States 
of this Union, So much im])ortance did Mr, 
Clay atti\ch to this line of policy, that he se- 
riously declared but a few months previous to 
his death, liis deliberate intention to close his 
political life, by a last efibrt to olitaiu the pas- 
sage of an act by Congress for the establish- 
ment of a regular communication between the 
United States and Liberia, coupled with an 
appropriation of public money sufficient to 
insure to every free person of color who emi- 
grated hence to that Kepublic, a suitable pro- 
visio:i for the object. But alas, the stern mes- 
senger of death forbade the accomplishment 
of the act. 

Hod-carriers may readily demolish a stnic- 
ture that skillful architects only can rebuild. 
It would be well for the rabid opponents of 
negro slavery to reflect upon the evils that 
may flow from to sudden an overthrow of that 
institution, as well as upon those already ex- 
isting in consequence of its continuance, — 
Wha<f let them ask, is to be the position the 
colored man is to occupy in tliis Union in such 
an event ? Is it possible that after a forcible 
disruption of the ties of master and slave, the 
two races should blend harmoniously at the 
South ? Or are we sure that tlie people of 
the North may not feel the presence of the 
latter amongst them too burdensome to be 
borne. 

If official returns are to be relied upon^ 
such are the hardships and ])rivations already 
entailed upon the blacks at the North, that it 
requires a constant stream of emigration from 
the South, to keep the race from becoming 
extinct in our section of the Union. 

Instead then, of mo-sang heaven and earth, 
as it were, in the cause of negro emancipation, 
would it not be well, as I have before hinted, 
that abolition jjliilanthropists at the North 
should first do something for the cause of hu- 
manity a little nearer home. Let them begin 
by instituting a thoi'ough examination into 
the condition of such of the colored people 
as already exist among us, and endeavor to 
bring to light some of the hidden circumstan- 
ces that cause so large a proportion of tliat 
race — when compared \vith other Americans — 
to be consigned to our prisons and houses of 



80 



correction, and that prevents it from ftilfiUing 
the great law of nature, to " increase and 
multi])ly." 

When this labor is satisfoctorlly accomplish- 
ed and effectual remedies appHcd, do not be 
in haste to resume operations abroad, but 
again examine the ground nearer home. If 
the spirit becomes restive in contemplation of 
the cruelties and hardships inflicted on the 
slave at the South, let its fury be expended 
on such o!:)jccts, as the northern man who 
urges beyond his strength his overdriven or 
his overworked horse ; or on him who occa- 
sionally blackens the eye of his wife, or knocks 
over his own child. Let the phikinthroinst 
reflect that such are the description of men 
who would, were their lot cast at the South, 
overwork and abuse, or when infuriated with 
passion or rum, perhaps maim or kill their 
slaves^ 

Again, when these far looking philanthro- 
pists, chance to see some }oung barbarian tor- 
turing flies, or robbing a poor bird of its young, 
■or casting stones at a passing dog or cat, — let 
them reflect that of such untutored embryos, 
men are formed, who whether they exist at 
the North or the South, or in any region be- 
tween the poles, will alike find helpless and 
un])rotectcd objects, both of the human and 
brute species, on M'hich to exercise their hell- 
ish cruelty. 

Put your shoulders then to the wheel, O 
ye abolitionist philanthropists of the North, — 
labor resolutely for the removal of these alJfem- 
inations from amongst us. Do not slacken 
your efforts for fear that when this is accom- 
plished nothing more will be left for you to 
do. liut when these abuses are reformed and 
amended again cast your eyes around our own 
northern sphere, and you will find hundreds 
of other like deserving objects of your philan- 
thropic labors. Visit the poor in their lowiy 
abodes ; relieve their present, and invent ways 
to enable them to ])rovide for their future 
wants. Look into our prisons, our poor- 
houses, and our asylums for the distressed.-— 
These last ol)jects will alone afford food for 
your ramjjant benevolence for a score of years 
at least. I have had trifling exi)ericnce in 
these matters, and speak not without knowl- 
edge ; but if you doubt my word, receive at 



least that of the present Governor of Ne^ 
York, who in his last message holds forth ^ to 
the law-makers of that State the following 
language : " Nearly 07?c thjousand insane ])er- 
sons are now confined in the different county 
])oor-houses of our State. In too many of 
these the afflicted languish wretchedly with- 
out the chince of a cure. In nearly all of 
them their treatment is simply imprisonment. 
Their helplessness and destructivcness make 
their confinAnent in most cases more painful 
than thai of criminals." 

Again I say, think of these things, and let 
alone for the present the "mote" that you 
])erceive in the eye of the South, and cast out 
the "beam" that so obstructs the \ision of our 
own. Labor earnestly, diligently, prayerfully, 
for the removal of the sins and abominations 
that stand crying for redress at our own doors. 
Then when all in this flirection is accomplished 
— when our hands are made clean, and the 
"beam" is purged from our eye, we shall be 
endued with greater strength, and gifted with 
a clearer vision to distuiguish, and to aid m 
the removal of more _dist;mt evils. 

But if 1 do not greatly mistake, long before 
that period arrives, if in the meantime we 
cease from thwarting by our short-sighted and 
unchristian haste, the beneficent designs of 
Divine I'rovidcnce, we shall discover that the 
painful prol);ition that God has permitted to be 
meeted out in our land to the colored race, 
like that which His most favoned people were 
of old forced for/our hundred years to under- 
go, Js not without its object ; but that as thro' 
the one dispensation a people were formed 
and instructed that have since stamped their 
Divine imj-ress upon three-quarters of this 
globe— the other is yet destined to convey 
light and knowledge, through the experience 
acquired in perhaps a less period of bondage, 
to the remiiaing quarter of the globe ; and 
that the little jdant now just d->veloping on 
the shores of Africa, will, under the fostering 
hand oi' Americii, througli the blessing of Di- 
vine rrovideuce, have grown into a tree, be- 
neath the broad branches of which Countless 
millions, jjrotected by institutions formed on 
the model of our own, -ttill repose in safety 
I and happiness. 
I Vaucluse, li. L, 1 mo. 28, 1866. 



[The matter contained in thi.f pamphlet was first publishtd in eleven numbers, periodically^ 
«>hich may account for some of its abrupt transitions.] 



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